Primalverse Supergirl
by Dylan Clearbrook
Summary: After the end of the Continuum Worlds Multiverse, a new Universe is started...with major historical differences. Players of the old City of Heroes game will recognize some of the names and places. A map of the Metropolis/Gotham City/Paragon City area can be seen here: /fanfic/images/PV Splash images/Metropolis-Paragon g
1. Chapter 1

_Chapter 1_

 _Arrival_

 _© Dylan (Clay) Clearbrook_

It all started with Superman!

While not even close to being an accurate statement, it is true that it was Lois Lane, Ace reporter for the Daily Planet, who brought the matter of Meta-Humans to the center stage with her series of exposes on the colorful metahuman vigilantes that began to appear in the early 1930's: Starting with her expose on the metahuman from another planet….SUPERMAN.

During that tumultuous period at the beginning of what would later be called the Great Depression, lawlessness ran rampant not only through the United States of America but many countries throughout the so-called industrialized world.

Starting with the stock market crash in October of 1929, a day that would be called Black Tuesday, huge fortunes were lost in minutes. The ripples from that crash were eventually felt around the world as countless businesses collapsed and employment became scarce.

These days of hopelessness and despair were fallow ground for anyone who could even suggest better times ahead.

In the United States, it was Roosevelt and his so-called New Deal. (in actuality, there were TWO New Deals, the first having been struck down by the Supreme Court.)

With the stroke of a pen, President Roosevelt struck a major blow against freedom and set the stage for future Administrations to constantly meddle in the Marketplace. Later economic experts would verify that Roosevelt's actions, though greeted with enthusiasm by an ignorant populace, extended the hardships of recovery by as much as seven years, giving government even more time to get its greedy claws even further embedded to control the marketplace!

Yet the United States was not alone in following a charismatic leader in the march away from Freedom.

Germany, still reeling and broken from the Great War, was an even more fertile ground for the charismatic Austrian by the name of Adolf Hitler! Even so, historians agree that Hitler's Nazi movement would have come to naught had it not been for the intervention of a mysterious backer who would later be identified during the Nuremberg Trials as Vandal Savage.

With the backing of Vandal Savage and access to technology never seen before, The Nazi Party eventually took control of Germany and Adolf Hitler became Der Führer! All experts believe that Vandal Savage was, in the beginning at least, the power behind the throne! It was these events that set the stage for what was to come.

Superman was not the first official Meta. Some historians have even produced proof that so-called Meta-humans have shown up all through history, and have claimed that many of the gods and goddesses of mythology might well have actually been Metas, there is no way at this point in time to prove or disprove such claims. While it is a given that Superman was alive and living among us, he had not yet revealed himself to the world when Hitler rolled out the infamous Ubermensch! These 'supermen', wielding various powers, created great swaths of destruction amongst the Allies. One such group of Ubermensch was the infamous Storm Korps, led by a meta of tremendous destructive abilities known only as Gotterdammerung, was charged with only one task…the complete and utter destruction of the Allied ability to wage war against Nazi Germany!

It was then that Superman made his first appearance, beating back the Storm Korps time and time again, first in Africa and then in Europe. Yet even will all the power at his command, Superman could not be everywhere. Every time he beat back an attack; one or two other attacks, taking place elsewhere, succeeded.

Perhaps Superman was an inspiration or simply an example of how a person with Meta abilities could and should take part in a war that had engulfed most of the world. Whichever it was, Superman soon found that he was not along on the battlefield. Metas of various degrees of powers and abilities soon made their presence known. At first, there was no coherent structure. The Allied Heroes simply appeared wherever they felt they could be used with little to no cooperative planning between them.

It was Superman who recognized that for all their good intentions the disorganized Allied Heroes could be as much a danger to the Allies as the Nazi Ubermensch. With the first hero to go by the name of Batman and a newly revealed heroine named Wonder Woman, Superman pulled several other heroes into an organized group which they named: The Justice Society!

In the end, it was not the Allies that brought the war to an earlier end than expected but a coup attempt by certain members of the Ubermensch themselves. Hitler was assassinated but the outcome was not exactly what those Ubermensch, who sought to take over the Third Riech imagined it would be. Instantly there was division in the ranks as Ubermensch fought Ubermensch and the German war machine crumbled.

It took a couple more years before Nazi Germany officially surrendered. Hitler was dead and, though some of his General Staff chose suicide as a way to escape justice, many others, including Vandal Savage, simply vanished. But not all of the Ubermensch had been accounted for, chief amongst them being those attached to the SS and, most notably, the leader of the Storm Korps: Gotterdammerung!

Allied victory had not come without a price, however. Aside from the massive loss of life among civilians and soldiers on all sides, the ranks of Metas involved in the war were decimated. Nearly all the Ubermensch, as well as those metas fighting for Japan and Italy, were killed or maimed. Among the Allies, the Meta losses were just as traumatic. Most of the original Justice Society perished. Hourman, Dr. Mid-night, the husband and wife team of Johnny Quick and Liberty Belle (leaving a son orphaned back in the states), Wildcat, Wonder Woman, Shazam, Starman, The Phantom Lady, Plastic Man, the list went on and on.

After the war, many of those metas that were known to have survived faded back into obscurity. They put the past behind them and strove to live normal lives.

The genie was, however, out of the bottle and there was no way to put it back. For better or worse, the Age of Metas had begun.

Twenty Years ago

Somewhere in the Arctic

For over three decades it had slept. Not sleep as most humans would recognize. Rather it had simply powered down non-essential peripherals, channeling power only to critical areas while placing all routines other than passive information gathering routines, defenses, and sensors on standby. Superman's Fortress of Solitude went, for the most part, dark…waiting.

Twenty Years ago

Smallville

The rental car sat in the driveway of the old farmhouse, engine idling as the occupants took in their surroundings.

"So this is where your family came from." The dark-haired woman in the passenger seat nodded slowly in answer, her tightly curled hair swaying slightly, and looked from the old home to the man with short-cropped blond hair seated beside her behind the steering wheel.

"My great-grandfather built the original home here before the First World War." She said. "His oldest boy, my great-great uncle Jonathon, took it over when he came back from Europe. My great grandfather signed it over to him and stayed on in New York to finish Medical school and then went back into the Army as a doctor when the Second World War started up."

Benjamin Danvers took in a deep breath. If his wife's grandfather had been in New York…

"No." Liz Kent-Danvers shook her head ever so slightly, her eyes returning to the old home. "He wasn't there when Gotterdammerung all but wiped it out in '47."

The devastation of New York and the surrounding area by the Nazi Ubermensch called Gotterdammerung was the stuff of legends. A holdover from the war, Gotterdammerung was bitter and blamed the Fall of the Third Reich on America and her Meta population. Specifically, he blamed Superman.

Superman and his Justice Society had ruined Germany and the dream of the Third Reich so he would do the same to the place Superman called home. By the time the smoke cleared, New York City, for all practical purposes, had ceased to exist.

Gotterdammerung had timed his attack perfectly. He had waited until Superman was occupied elsewhere. Though Superman had been unable to return in time to stop Gotterdammerung, other heroes had stepped up to prevent him from widening his circle of destruction. In the end, it had been the hero Talos, along with a magic-wielding hero who remains a mystery still, who stopped Gotterdammerung. Talos grappled with the massive Ubermensch, holding him in place while spell cast by the unnamed magical hero transformed the villain into a giant statue. He did so knowing full well that he would be caught in the spell as well. When the smoke finally cleared, three of the boroughs of New York; Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx, had all but been erased. It was in the center of the borough known as Brooklyn that they were found. Two behemoths of lifeless stone; locked forever in combat.

There were many that said the destruction of New York had preyed on the Man of Steel's mind, causing him to become careless.

In the aftermath of Gotterdammerung's attack, each of the five Boroughs that had gone to make up the Mega City that had been New York was established as separate cities in their own right. Of those five; Manhattan, Staten Island, the Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn, only Manhattan and Staten Island retained their original names. That area of the old New York that, before Gotterdammerung, had been the Bronx now became Gotham City. The borough that had been Brooklyn became Paragon City. Like its predecessor, Paragon City was divided up into separate boroughs: Atlas Park, Steel Canyon, Astoria, Independence Port, Peregrine Peninsula, and the Talos Isles. Last but not least, the borough of Queens became the city of Metropolis! By 1952 all five of the new cities had been rebuilt…and six years later…Superman died protecting them!

"When Gotterdammerung showed up, my grandfather was in Europe dealing with the wounded soldiers and civilians from the War." Liz continued. "He and my grandmother had a home in Brooklyn. When Gotterdammerung showed up, my grandmother was home but dad was spending the summer here in Smallville, helping out his aunt and uncle on the farm for the summer." She sighed. "After Gotterdammerung, Granddad was called back to the states to help deal with those injured during the attack…and to identify the remains of his wife."

Ben said nothing, letting her talk. Following in the footsteps of her grandfather and father, Liz had gone into medicine. In all the years he had known her she had never talked about her extended family. So it had come as a surprise when she suddenly announced that they had to take a trip to some hole in the wall place in the middle of Kansas called Smallville. She would not explain why the sudden urgency but simply stated that it was something that had to be done and it had to be done now.

"Just before great aunt Martha passed away, she contacted her nephew…my father." Liz continued. "It seems that my line of the family was all that remained of the Kents and she had something important that she had to tell him." She looked at Ben and shrugged. "I can't tell you what they talked about because dad never told me and this all happened a year or two before I was born. I didn't know anything about this until dad was diagnosed with stage four cancer. That is when he told me about talking to Martha. He still did not tell me what they talked about. He said it was better if I didn't know just in case nothing ever came of it. Then he gave me something Martha had given him and made me make a promise to him."

"What kind of promise?" Ben prompted when she grew quiet. For an answer she dug into the small purse she clutched in her lap and removed an object that, except for the metallic color resembled an old style beeper. She turned it over and showed it to him. With only two exceptions, the object was featureless. The two exceptions were the blinking green light below an emblem that no one could fail to recognize…the stylized S of Superman!

"My father made me promise that I would come here if this ever started blinking." She looked around. "He told me that the house would be taken care of and that the farmland had been rented out to the neighboring farms." She shook her head, her short brown curly hairs waving gently as it framed her face. "Dad said he did not believe anything would ever happen. But he had promised Aunt Martha and he made me swear that I would keep his promise." She gave a humorless chuckle. "He even made me promise that I would pass it along to my children."

Ben winced and, taking the device in his right hand, squeezed the hand that had held it with his left. It was still a painful topic for Liz, he knew. Many couples would try for years before they decided to get tested. Being a doctor, Liz hadn't waited. After the first year of trying…doing everything they could think of to optimize the chances…she had run the tests. Even before the results came back, she had convinced herself that she was the problem. That there was something wrong with her that would not allow her to get pregnant. Thus, when the results showed that she was, indeed, barren, she was prepared. The Kent family would end with her.

They had talked about adopting but as yet they had not gone beyond discussing it as a future possibility.

Liz shook herself and squeezed Ben's hand, giving him a smile that showed that she appreciated his support. She took a deep breath and, taking the device back from Ben, looked at the blinking light then opened her car door.

"C'mon." She said. "Dad left explicit instructions on what to do if the light ever blinked."

Ben followed her from the car to the small porch of the farmhouse. He made a soft exclamation of surprise when the porch light flashed on the instant Liz's foot hit the first step.

"Yeah, it freaked me out the first time I came here." Liz laughed.

"You've been here before?" Ben demanded.

"I've been here twice." Liz admitted. "What can I say? Curiosity got the better of me. I had to try to find out what was so damned important that Dad used most of his dying breath to convince me to swear." She stopped at the front door. She stepped to the side and beckoned for him to open it. Frowning, Ben put his hand on the knob and…nothing. The knob wouldn't turn and the door would not budge."

"Locked." He said. "I hope you have a key."

"Nope." Liz shook her head and her hand replaced his on the knob. It turned easily and the door swung open. "Dad told me that only a member of the Kent family could open the door. By Family, he meant blood relatives." As the door opened into the main living room, a light came on, illuminating the plastic covered furniture. "Oh, I checked on my first visit here. This place is still connected to the local electric network….but if you look at the meter out back you will see that it is running backward."

"Backwards?" Ben glanced around, his eyes narrowing. "So the house is producing electricity and sending it back to the electric company."

"Yep. That isn't the only odd thing going on with this house." Liz announced. When Ben looked at her she waved at the shrouded furniture. "Dust, Ben. Where is the dust? If this house has been empty for years, there should be dust covering everything in here. But this place is spotless." Eyes widening, Ben looked around and noted that Liz was right. "The last time I visited was before you and I got married. That has been a couple of years…and this place looks just as clean as it did then…or the time before that!"

"You're right." Ben ran a finger over one of the covers and looked at the result. "No dust. None at all." He looked at Liz and then followed her when she took his hand and led him through the living room to the doorway that led to the kitchen. She didn't stop to look around there. Instead, she made a beeline for another door and opened it, showing it to be an entrance to the basement. She stood there for a moment looking down into the darkness. Without looking at her husband she began to talk.

"According to Dad when Clark, Great Uncle Jonathan and Great Aunt Martha's adopted son, went missing Martha contacted him." She said. Ben said nothing but his eyebrows rose as Liz spoke. "She had a favor to ask. Of course, she needed him to come out here. Alone."

"I've seen the pictures." Ben mused, nodding. "The photo albums your mom kept. There was one with an older couple and two teenage boys: One dark-haired and one blonde."

"That would have been Jonathan and Martha Kent." Liz replied. "The blonde boy would have been Dad and the other would have been Clark." She shrugged. "Until the end, Dad never talked about Clark much at all."

"So your dad coming here had something to do with Clark?"

"Oh, it was about Clark alright." Liz snorted. "Martha knew Dad had been on the team that had worked with the body of Superman."

"I think everyone in the world knows the names of the people on the team of scientists and doctors that worked with Superman's body." Ben frowned. "Especially the name of the man who determined that it was the radiation from the meteor he saved Metropolis from that killed him!"

"Dad always refused to take credit for that." Liz shook her head. "He claimed it wasn't his field."

"Perhaps not, but it was your dad that pointed out that Superman's cells had characteristics of exposure to lethal radiation. That is what led the team to discover the link between him and that green stuff."

"Kryptonite." Liz remarked. "Fragments from his home planet."

"Which does nothing to explain here and now." Ben prompted. "Or what that had to do with why Martha needed your Dad to come out here or what it had to do with Clark or why your dad thought it was important enough to pass a promise he made on to you!"

"Officially, Clark was listed as missing and presumed dead during a visit to Korea as a war correspondent for the Daily Planet." Liz continued. She reached into the darkness and felt along the wall until she found the light switch. Light flooded the basement and she started down the steps. "That is still the official story." She paused at the bottom of the steps and looked around. "By then Martha had already been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Dad tried to get her to move to Metropolis but she refused. She told him she had to stay here."

She stood in the middle of the basement, looking around as if lost. While newer homes might have elaborately finished basements divided up into individual useful spaces the basement of the Kent consisted of a single large room. Against one wall sat a washer and dryer and a folding table. Above them was a laundry chute. The North wall of the basement sported a sloped ramp that led to an outside entrance. The south wall held a workbench and a large pantry full of emergency supplies. Sensible since Smallville just happened to be located smack dab in the middle of Tornado Alley.

The west wall, however, was completely bare.

Ben frowned as he looked around. Other than being unnaturally neat and clean, there was nothing spectacular or seemingly out of place. He watched as Liz moved to what had obviously been Jonathon's basement workbench. Above the bench was a faded picture of Martha and Clark. With trembling fingers, Liz reached out and touched the picture.

"This is as far as I ever got." She said, turning back to face her husband. She held up the device in her hand, looking it over. "This S symbol is actually a button. Dad made me promise that I would come back here…down here in the basement and push the button if the light ever started blinking."

"Let me guess." Ben stepped up beside her and took the device, looking it over. "You came here the first two times, and nothing happened when you pushed the button." When she nodded he shrugged. "So what makes you think this time will be any different?"

"Actually, I don't. Expect anything different, that is." She told him with a shrug.

"But your dad made a promise to his Aunt and you made a promise to your dad." Ben stated, standing straighter and handing the device back to her. As he did, he turned slightly and got a better look at the picture he had been looking at then he looked back at the device. Liz saw his reaction and actually snorted in laughter.

"Dad wouldn't explain." Liz continued. "But I figure he knew I would put two and two together."

"Clark…." Ben couldn't finish the sentence but Liz nodded.

"Was the Smallville Superboy and then, later, Superman." She said. "That much I was able to figure out. Of course, Dad knew I would. That is why, even though he would not tell me, he also made me promise that I would never reveal anything I might conclude on my own about Clark." She shut her eyes and turned back to the workbench. She placed her hands on the top and leaned heavily. "People always wondered how Superman developed his ethics." She slapped the workbench with a hand and pointed at the picture. "This is how. Jonathon and Martha!"

She was silent for several moments, lost in thought. Then she turned and held up the device.

"So. Here we are." she said, her voice still a bit tight as she straightened and looked around. She then looked at the device. "Dad was precise in his instructions. If the light started blinking, I was to return here. Not just to the farm, but here…in the basement. Then I was to press the button."

She then looked at Ben and, with a shrug, pressed on the emblem. They both gasped as a portion of the west wall swiveled aside to reveal steps leading even further down. Beyond the revealed doorway, they could see that the bare aged concrete of the basement gave way to shiny metallic walls. Unlike the wooden steps leading from the home to the basement, the spiral staircase that was now revealed was also made of metal.

"Well that didn't happen the last two times I pressed that button." Liz breathed.

Without speaking further, as if drawn against their will, they moved through the opening and down the staircase until they reached the bottom and gazed around as they entered into a large chamber that looked as if it had come from an elaborate science fiction movie. Consoles and view screens lined the walls and four different darkened hallways led off in the four cardinal directions.

"Mary Elizabeth, thank you for coming." Both of them jumped when the voice sounded. One of the viewscreens now showed Martha Kent. Her image gave a smile. "I probably won't be wrong to guess that Benjamin is there with you."

"A recording." Liz whispered. She then shook her head. "But how? She died before you and I ever met!"

"By now you have guessed much of what I could not tell your father." The recording continued. "At least about Clark." Her image looked around as if she were examining the room in which Ben and Liz now stood. "He made this all, with a little help from Jonathon, while he lived with us. At first, it was what he called his base of operations. When he created a Fortress in the Arctic, it became more of an outpost." Her expression became serious. "Clark showed me how to secure these computers and how to give access to others should the need ever arise." The image paused. "It was Kelex, however, that showed me how to impress my consciousness on this computer before cancer completely ate my body away. That is how I know about you…both of you. Forgive an old woman for keeping an eye on all the family she has left. Before you start asking questions, let me tell you what I…or rather the original me…told your father. Yes, all of this is Kryptonian technology. And yes, I could have used it to cure the cancer in my body. Kelex even offered to do so. I couldn't let that happen. The most I would let him do was take the pain away. If this had all happened in YOUR time, I might have reconsidered. With the advancements humankind has made in medicine a cure for cancer would not be so farfetched. But in my time, it would have raised too many eyebrows and Clark's secret might have gotten out. I could not afford that."

"But why?" Liz could not help the demand for an explanation. "Clark was gone. What would it have mattered if people learned that he was Superman?" She was not expecting a response so when the eyes of the image turned to her she placed a hand to her mouth.

"If it were just about Clark, you would be right, Liz" the image of Martha Kent responded to her directly, changing her form of address to the diminutive of her name that Liz preferred. "But it isn't just about Clark or the past. This is about the future…and about why you are here. Why I made your father promise that he…or one of his children…would be here at this time."

She looked back to Ben.

"Benjamin Danvers." She smiled again. "Or should I say, Detective Danvers? As Liz said, the original version of myself did indeed die before the two of you met. Yet part of the programming of this version of me was to keep tabs on the remaining members of the Kent family. So when the last member met and married a police officer, I figured it would be good to learn what I could of you. A policeman with the Leesville PD before moving to Metropolis where you advanced to Detective. Impressive." She turned her eyes back to Liz. "I have now added him to those with access to this facility." She stated. The image appeared to take a breath though Liz knew it was merely an illusion. "I know you have questions, but now isn't the time to answer them. This is why I couldn't leave here, Liz. Someone had to stay here and watch. When my time was done, Kelex helped me impress my consciousness on this system so that I could continue to watch and wait. I would be more than willing to speak with you about all of this later, but for now simply accept that even though this computer system is giving the impression that I may still be alive somewhere inside, trust me that I am not. My consciousness was impressed…or copied…not transferred. I am constrained by the built-in safeguards within the computer itself. What must happen now requires an actual human presence, not simply a computer mimicking a human. I asked your father, or one of his children, to return here if you received a signal on the device I gave your father. Basically, I passed on to your father a trust that Clark gave to me and your father, in turn, passed on to you. You see, this is actually more than just an outpost. It is a remote monitoring and guiding station. It becomes active if there is no one at the Fortress."

Liz closed her eyes briefly. Of course, there was no one at the Fortress….Clark…Superman…was dead. She opened her eyes and, looking back and forth between the viewscreen and Ben she voiced the first thing that came to her mind.

"What, exactly is it monitoring?" She demanded. "And what is it guiding?"

The image of Martha faded and the image of a strange world replaced her.

"The last day of Krypton." Martha's voice narrated. "Clark was able to obtain this footage from a monitoring satellite that survived the destruction that was to come. This is where Clark is from. Krypton was a very advanced world. By comparison, when Clark came to us, coming to Earth from Krypton would have been like someone from this time traveling back to the Stone Ages. But even with all their science and knowledge, they couldn't save their planet. They had become a bit too arrogant. They had come to believe that they were in total control of everything and refused to listen to those who were trying to sound the warning that disaster was coming. Two of those being Jor-El and Zor El. Brothers."

The screen flickered again to show two men working together in a lab. Liz gasped as a particular scene showed a close up of one of the men.

"Jor-El." Martha's voice identified the man. "Clark's biological father. In fact, Clark's real name was actually Kal El. When the powers-that-be on Krytpon refused to listen to their warning and even went so far as to forbid them from trying to inform the populous they decided that they would at least try to save their families and themselves. They quickly discovered, however, that they had misjudged the time they had left. They wouldn't have time to construct a vessel large enough to hold them all. So they made the hard choice. They constructed two smaller vehicles."

The screen flickered again to show two children. One a dark-haired baby boy and the other a young blonde girl Liz would have judged to be five or six years old.

"This is Clark and his cousin Kara mere moments before they were placed in separate vehicles and launched from the planet. First Clark and then, moments later, Kara. Those few moments seems to have caused a lot of problems. Clark's ship was able to escape the planet's gravity well and go into what science fiction authors here on Earth have called Hyper-drive. Kara's ship did escape the gravity well, but was just starting to go into Hyper-drive when the planet exploded. Both ships were pre-programmed to come to Earth where Kara was supposed to help take care of her young cousin. Obviously, it did not work out that way. Clark's ship came through and the rest is history, as they say. But when Kara's ship was scheduled to come out of the Hyper-drive, all that came through were radioactive chunks of Krypton."

Martha's image now returned.

"Of course much of what transpired after Krypton exploded was only pieced together later by Clark." She went on. "He had only the vaguest of memories of Krypton and Kara, but the images were still there in his mind." The image changed again, this time showing the ship in which Clark had come to Earth. "Jor-El was nothing if not thorough. Included in the ship were records, entire libraries of knowledge from Krypton, advanced teaching devices, everything. Each of the ships was also fitted with beacons and systems that would allow them to home in on each other."

"Oh My God!" Liz gasped. Ben gave her a puzzled glance. Despite everything being thrown at them, his wife was still able to make an intuitive leap that still eluded him. Instead of explaining, she pointed at the image of Martha.

"If you received the signal on the device I gave your father, Liz, it can mean only one thing." Martha's image was saying. "It means Kara's ship has finally arrived and is waiting for instructions. You have to bring her down to Earth, Liz!"

Several Years Later

Smallville

There was nothing she could do.

Kara Kent-Danvers sat beside Liz, holding her hand, as mourners lined up to pay their final respects to Benjamin Danvers. The small funeral home was filled almost to overflowing. Not only were there people from Smallville but friends and colleagues from both Leesville and Metropolis had shown up as well.

The decision to relocate to Smallville had been an easy one. If anyone was surprised when such a prestigious doctor moved, lock stock and barrel, from Metropolis to enter into a private practice in a hole in the wall place like Smallville they had never let it show. Nor had they complained when a notable Detective left Metropolis to take a position with the Smallville police department, eventually rising to become the Chief of Police.

Ben and Liz, with their blonde haired daughter, had moved into the Old Kent place…after it had been extensively renovated, of course. Rather than keep up the arrangements with the neighboring farms for use of the Kent land, Liz had simply signed the portions they were using over to them, retaining only about three acres surrounding the house itself.

Moving from the hustle and bustle of Metropolis to the laid back Smallville had been hardest on Liz so, in addition to becoming a family practitioner, she had taken it upon herself to become involved with the sad excuse for a library that was all Smallville had at the time. Now, years later, that Library was a thriving institution, with several satellite libraries located in nearby communities.

None of which meant anything right now. Ben had known all along that he was just as susceptible to the heart problems that had plagued the male members of his family for generations. He had, of course, taken all the precautions he could. A healthy diet, regular check-ups, etc. None of which had done a thing to help. It was as if some divine being waited until a Danvers male reached a certain age and then began rolling the dice. Every roll was a win until the dice came up snake eyes. When that happened, the divine being would flip a cosmic switch and that Danvers would die of massive heart failure with absolutely no warning.

Of course, the truth was a little less spectacular. Nothing more than a genetic defect. Science and medicine had advanced so far in the past twenty years that most heart problems could be spotted and dealt with long before they became life-threatening problems. Most but not all. As Ben often said, it is not what we have found that will kill you, it is what we have missed! Of course, he had also said that the chances that humanity would completely eradicate death due to heart problems were nil. Liz, being the doctor of the family, could only agree.

As she sat with Liz, Kara allowed her thoughts to wander. She knew very well what the mourners that passed by, saying their final good-byes and offering their condolences to the widow, saw. As far as they were concerned they saw nothing more than a grief-stricken girl in her mid-teens. The daughter of the man lying in the casket. A few of them might even know she was adopted, but not most.

When she had awoken years earlier in a room bathed in red sunlight she had been terrified. It had been the calming voices of Liz and Ben that had stopped panic from taking over. Of course, she had not understood a word they were saying until, following instructions her father had given her, she activated a translating device he had attached to her wrist comp.

It had taken some time for it to sink in that something had gone wrong. It had taken even longer for Ben and Liz to realize that, though she was no different in appearance than an average Terran six-year-old child, her maturity was closer to that of a Terran child three times her age and there really was no way to compare the knowledge crammed into her mind with that in the minds of most Terrans, no matter their ages.

But despite the differences, she was nevertheless a child and would often surprise Liz and Ben by acting exactly as an Earth child would.

The first thing she had demanded, when she was sure the Kents could understand her, was the location of her cousin. Her mother and father had impressed upon her that looking after Kal would be her responsibility.

She had been at a complete loss after Ben and Liz showed her the recordings Martha Kent had left and let her access the computers Kal had left behind. Kal had grown and then died…and she had not been here to help or protect him!

Neither Liz nor Ben had ever tried to force their will on her. Instead, they had offered her the choice. Her world was gone. Her cousin was gone. But she lived. Earth would be her new home and, though they would never try to replace Zor and Alura in her heart, they would do whatever they could to help her live the kind of life Clark lived. Where she went from there would be totally up to her.

A Few Years Later

Somewhere in the Arctic

Kara floated in the air far above Superman's fabled Fortress of Solitude.

It was the dead of night yet still lights could be seen from some of the various camps that ringed the area. Over the past few years, she had come here several times yet never had she gotten any closer than she was right at this moment.

She knew that each of those camps had sensors trained on the Fortress, trying to ferret out secrets Superman might have hidden in there.

It had taken a full decade after Superman's death before any of the world's governments made the commitment to find his hidden fortress. While some countries, the United States included, had been more than willing to let the Fortress remain hidden, they could not afford to let some foreign power find it and possibly gain access. Who knew what kind of technology they might discover that could become weapons of destruction?

Though they had located the Fortress fairly quickly, that was as far as any of the governments involved had gotten. Once they found it, they discovered that gaining entrance was not going to be easy at all. Not when the Fortress could actively defend itself. In fact, the searchers quickly discovered that they could get no closer to the fortress than a half a mile. So they had set up permanent armed camps around the Fortress. They might not be able to gain entrance, but they were going to make sure no one else did without their knowledge.

Kara knew she could enter the Fortress. The records she had uncovered at the Kent home had informed her that Kal had keyed the Fortress to his own genetic code and that only someone who shared that code, ie a member of the El family, would be able to enter.

Her problem was the camps surrounding the Fortress.

She wished she could have consulted with Kelex. Unfortunately, this extension of the El family robotic servant, which had been included with Kal's ship, was offline. Even Kryptonian technology required human maintenance every now and then.

Which brought her to the here and now. The system installed beneath the Kent home had sounded the warning. After over fifty years, the power systems within the Fortress were in danger of failing. Without intervention, the power available would begin to decline and systems would start to go down…including the defensive systems.

This time she did not have a choice. She would have to enter the fortress, reactivate Kelex, and then go from there. She frowned and tugged at the blue cowl that rose up from the neck of the blue suit she wore to cover her head and most of her face. Behind her, a long red cape flapped in the air and the El family crest that Superman had made famous…the so-called S Symbol…showed prominently over her chest.

The costume had been Liz's idea, complete with the cowl that hid her hair and face. With today's facial recognition software, there was no way she could have gotten away with the simple addition of glasses to hide her identity the way Clark/Kal had. While Kara had agreed with the concept, the execution of that concept was definitely uncomfortable. With the exception of the cowl, the rest of the costume was a near if not an exact duplicate of what Kal had worn as Superman. While it might have worked during Clark's time period, fashion had, thankfully, evolved since then. If she ever had reason to wear a costume again, which she doubted since Earth had enough superheroes, it wouldn't be this one!

"Kara Kent-Danvers, you are not getting anywhere just floating here." She scolded herself. Her choice of names, names that had become as much a part of her as her own arm, snapped her out of her hesitation. In an instant, she went from floating miles above the Fortress to standing before the massive doorway. She could hear alarms going off in several of the camps as the sensors aimed at the doors noticed her presence. For the moment, she ignored them as she looked up at the double doors before her. She was standing before the entrance to the Fortress her cousin had constructed long ago…while her ship was still wandering in space. Though the massive doors, colored white to mask their presence, did not appear to be 'alien', the engravings along the edges were in a language that had never been developed on Earth. They were Kryptonian. Those engravings reminded her that, though she might be Kara Kent-Danvers now, she had been and would always be Kara Zor-El as well.

Straightening her spine, she stepped forward. There was no need for a key or some magic word to open the doors. Though a normal human might not have noticed it, her enhanced vision allowed her to see the low-frequency light that played briefly over her. In the time it took her to step forward and place the palm of her right hand on the smooth plate where, on most doors on Earth, a handle would have been the security protocols Kal had installed within the Fortress had scanned her, taken note of her genetic make-up, and positively identified her as a member of the El family. When her hand touched the plate, the massive doors swung silently inward and Kara stepped into the main entrance hall of the Fortress. Even as she stepped in, she sighed. While human eyes might not have been able to see scanning light, the sensors the camps had trained on the door would have picked up on it. Another piece of data that would, eventually, allow them to gain entrance. She pushed the thought aside as the massive door swung shut behind her.

Looking around at the chamber she found herself in, the first thoughts that entered her mind were probably not as full of reverence as they probably should have been. As she looked around the chamber she felt only relief that the multiple movies that had been made about her cousin were wrong. Nowhere was there any sign of the hideous crystalline structure that Hollywood had invented. It was as if Hollywood thought all Kryptonians were hip crystal waving navel-gazers. Of course, she understood the mentality. When faced with the task of trying to explain some of the advanced science of Krypton, the movie makers had taken the easy way out. They had equated the science of Krypton with mystic crystal mumbo-jumbo and called it good. But then they had gone further and created a mythological fortress. The actors who played her cousin might as well have been waving magic wands. Presto chango. Instant Fortress. Just add water.

The earlier comics that had been inspired by Superman had actually come closer to the truth. Kal might have had some help from Kryptonian technology, but this Fortress was no Crystal wavers orgasm but rather a series of elaborate chambers carved out of the ice and the side of the mountain in which it resided.

A console stood in the middle of the entrance chamber, just below large full-color statues of Kal's parents holding aloft a globe representing Krypton. The console was similar to those Kara had seen in her father's lab and that of her Uncle Jor El. Again, thankfully, no crystal mumbo-jumbo. Just sensible controls that would, at first, seem familiar to even an Earth person. She looked down at the console and smiled. On Krypton, such a console might be labeled much as a Terran computer console would be. The language used, however, would be Kryptonian. This one was labeled in English.

During her stay in Smallville, she had all but taken apart the systems Kal had left beneath the home as she researched everything she could get her hands on. One thing she had noticed right away was Kal's tendency to use English. Not too surprising since, to him, English would have been his first language and Kyrptonese a secondary. Despite all their advancements, Kryptonians were still a member of the same family Terran Humans sprang from. Though, of course, you would not find many Terran Humans that would believe any such thing. As far as they were concerned, they were either created out of mud by some divine being or had evolved from some branch of the Ape family.

But the relationship between Earth Humans and Krytponian Humans was as obvious as it was surprising. In fact, the relationship was much closer than probably even the Kryptonian scientist who knew about Earth were willing to believe. In most cases in nature, when members of the same species evolve apart from each other, each going in separate directions, the chances of interbreeding between the two would decrease the more time passed and the further apart they evolved. Tests Kal had done had shown that not only were Krytponians and Terrans fully compatible with each other, there was less difference between the two than there was between a Terran Human and a Chimpanzee. In fact, according to his findings, Kryptonian Humans were more closely related to every other Terran species than they were to ANY species that evolved on Krypton! Though she had been skeptical at first, following the same path Kal had taken in his research Kara had not only confirmed his findings but found that she agreed with his conclusion that, in some distant past, Earth Humans had been taken and altered so they could survive on a new heavy gravity world. That world had been Daxam. It would be the Daxamites who would later in their violent history eventually colonize the planet Krypton! A rule of thumb to determine which species had evolved on Krypton and those that had been transplanted to Krypton was to count the number of limbs of the mammals. All Kryptonian 'mammals' had six limbs. Those that Kal had believed had originated on Earth had four! Of course, this had only included the three species Kal had been aware of: Humans, Canines, and Felines.

All of which boiled down to the fact that despite their advances in the various sciences Kryptonians were still human and still had the same limitations! In Kal's case, those limitations had been his age. When Jor-El placed baby Kal in his escape ship he had been much too young to undergo any of the teaching methods used by Kryptonians. Kara had only been old enough to proceed partially through what was known as First Tier Training. Though biologically the equivalent of a Terran child of five or six when Zor had placed her in her ship she had the knowledge equivalent to what Terrans might gain after one or two years of college. A fact that had made going through Smallville schools extremely boring.

Of course, Kal had made up for lost time by utilizing the training aides Uncle Jor had included in Kal's ship much as Kara had continued her education through Second Tier Training using the aides her father had provided for her. The problem was the timing. The Tier Training system had been developed to go hand in hand with the growth of the child receiving the training. Though he had gained knowledge, had learned about his biological parents and their world, that knowledge which should have been written to a clean slate had been added to a mind that already had years of experience. The result was that whatever Kal learned remained at a distance rather than part of him. In the end, Kal was more Earthling than Kryptonian. Of course, she, Kara, had the same problem, if not to the same degree. Even with all the training aides her father had provided, the environment in which she now lived made continuing through the Fourth and higher tiers of education useless, if not impossible. She would continue through the Third but after that….

She ceased her musing and looked down at the console. She read the power levels indicators that showed that the fortress had placed itself in hibernation mode after a considerable amount of time. So Kelex had not malfunctioned after all…it had simply gone to sleep. Of course, it had done so in such a way that only the most catastrophic events…or a human hand…would awaken it. She touched a series of buttons and a schematic of the fortress appeared in the air above the console. She studied it for a moment and then smiled again. She doubted Kal had ever realized that he had carved out this fortress with the exact floor plan Jor-El had used when he had constructed their new home in Kryptonopolis. A flickering on one of the gauges caught her eye and she frowned. The power levels were, indeed fluctuating and dropping. It would not have been much longer before they had dropped to a point that waking Kelex would have become impossible. Further checks determined that it was the constant effort of keeping the Earthlings gathered in camps around the Fortress out and blocking all their attempts at scanning the interior of the fortress remotely.

"Okay, Kelex." She muttered as she touched a few more controls. "Nap time is over. Time to get back to work."

Two weeks later alarms in the camps around the fortress went off again. Tensions had risen dramatically when the unknown individual had appeared and entered the fortress. For two weeks the camps of the various governments had eyed each other warily, daring anyone to make a move. Thankfully cool heads were in charge and no overt movements that would require a response were made. Now, as the alarms sounded once again, the tension rose still higher.

"What's happening?" Colonel Ben (Buddy) Raines demanded as he entered the Quonset hut that had been made into the control center for the camp. He pushed the parka hood from his head and stripped off his heavy gloves as he glared at the technician on duty. The technician shook her head and pointed to one view screen.

"The doors, Colonel." She said. "They're open!"

"Did our mystery girl leave?" Buddy mused, leaning over the shoulder of the tech to glare at the screen. Though they could not identify the person that entered the fortress, the images they were able to get showed clearly that she was a female.

"No, sir." She shook her head. "At least not that our cameras and sensors could see." She shrugged. "The doors just opened and they aren't closing." She turned to glance at another screen and stiffened. "Sir, the sensors are indicating that there is no power whatsoever coming from the Fortress. Nothing!" She turned to look at him. "With no power that could mean that the barriers are down!"

Buddy studied the readouts and then, snagging a chair, planted himself beside the Tech.

"Yeah, they probably are." He shook his head. "Turn off the alarms and have the camp stand down."

"Sir?"

"Whatever was in that Fortress is gone." Buddy said. "Oh, I imagine we'll find some stuff in there, but nothing we don't already have or could readily develop on our own. Whoever that girl was, she cleaned house. I'll bet on it!"

It took a full day of negotiating with the various governments represented by the camps before a small delegation was selected amongst them to explore the Fortress. Buddy was among them when, after years of trying to get in, they finally walked through the doors.

The first thing they saw was an empty chamber with the exception of a life-sized statue of Superman. A closer inspection around the statue would later reveal that it was a newer addition…probably replacing a control console that had stood in that spot. The second thing they noticed were the words burnt into one of the walls.

"This place was my cousin's Fortress of Solitude. It would be nice if you made it a monument to him! – Supergirl"

"Supergirl?" Buddy Raines smiled and turned to the tech that had accompanied him just as his counterparts were turning to their aides. "I think we need to inform Washington that we could possibly have another Kryptonian."

 _To be Continued….._


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2_

 _© Clay (Dylan) Clearbrook_

"Just one more signature, Ms Kent-Danvers."

Kara Kent-Danvers sighed and turned away from the great glass wall that gave her a view of the bay and, beyond, the skyline of the neighboring city of Gotham and glowered at her personal aide, Terry Slater. For her part, Terry ignored the look and slid a paper from the folder in her arms and placed it on the desk and waited. Grumbling, Kara snatched the paper up and gave it what might appear to Terry as a rapid scan before scrawling her signature. She knew Terry felt she barely glanced at the documents she laid before her. She would have been surprised to discover that her employer carefully read each and every word before putting her signature on anything.

"Enough, Terry." Kara slid the document to the edge of the desk and turned to gaze back out at the skyline. "I swear if you make me sign anything else my hand is going to cramp and I am going to cancel tonight."

"That was the last one, Boss." Terry laughed. It had been a running joke for nearly three years for Kara to refer to Terry as her taskmaster rather than her executive secretary. "And don't even think about canceling. But after tonight, you have a clean slate for the weekend. I will call you if anything comes up, though." She wagged a finger at her dark-haired employer. "So no turning off the phone!"

"Spoilsport." Kara grimaced. "The guy who invented the cell phone must have been one sadistic S.O.B.!" She felt rather than saw her aide step up beside her to look out over the bay.

"Frankly, I am surprised it hasn't been canceled." Terry offered, gesturing towards the skies. Like everyone else on the planet, she was still a bit edgy. It had only been a few days since the turbulent green skies that had encircled the globe for over a week had cleared. As yet, no one had ventured theory as to what had caused the green skies. There had been some tense moments of near panic when the green skies had first manifest, but as time passed with no visible results, life had gone on as usual.

"It would take an act of the gods for the Wayne Foundation to cancel its annual charity ball." Kara smirked. "In the past eighty years, the Ball has been canceled only once." She glanced sideways and caught the look of surprise on Terry's face. "What? Just because I have no desire to attend doesn't mean I haven't done my homework. I always check out the competition."

"Well, strictly speaking, Wayne Enterprises isn't a direct competitor." Terry grumped. She was only partially correct, of course. While Kent-Danvers Inc. did not compete with Wayne Enterprises directly in the marketplace, they did compete in both Research and Development.

When Kent-Danvers first started up in Metropolis, the previous COO (Chief Operating Officer) of Wayne Enterprises had used some questionable tactics in order to squash them. Those efforts came to an abrupt halt when that COO suddenly found his employment terminated and a new COO selected to fill his shoes. The next day Kara had been surprised to find a note on her desk, personally written by one Bruce Richard Alistair Wayne, the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of Wayne Enterprises, offering his sincere apologies.

"Well, I better go take care of these." Terry sighed as she gathered up the paper Kara had signed and slid it back into the folder she held. She made her way to the door and, upon reaching it, stopped to look back. "Please at least try to have fun tonight…and play nice with the reporters, Boss!" She ordered before leaving and closing the door behind her.

"Damn." Kara sighed. Still, she sat and continued to gaze out over the bay that separated Metropolis from Gotham City.

Located near the northernmost borders of the city of Metropolis, the Kent-Danvers Inc. building was one of the newest additions, being less than five years old. At that, it was only two years younger than the company for which it was named.

When Kent-Danvers Inc. had burst on to the scene, it had caused quite a stir in the Metropolis business and celebrity circles.

Billed as a major research and development firm, Kent-Danvers Inc. had seemingly sprung out of nowhere and was, within a few short years, already competing with Wayne Enterprises for the position of top R&D firm in the area, if not the country. Yet it was Kara herself that garnered most of the attention. Speculation had run wild when she had made her first appearance. Rather speculation had run wild when her Kent-Danvers Inc. had burst on the scene because the sole stock owner and CEO very rarely made a personal appearance. From the beginning, Terry had been the official spokeswoman of Kent-Danvers Inc. Chief Public Relations Officer was just one of the many hats she wore when she wasn't acting as Kara's Keeper. For close to two years no one had even gotten a glimpse of illusive Kara Kent-Danvers, leading many to wonder if she truly existed.

Though she had made appearances over the past three years, each due to a demand from Terry, speculation had not ceased. Whatever the business community had expected, she was not it. Going by appearances only, she was barely into her twenties, but already gave off the air of a much older, no-nonsense businesswoman. Gossip columnists had initially started out trying to compare her to the Gotham City's Rick Wayne yet if there was an opposite of the overly flamboyant millionaire playboy, Kara Kent-Danvers was it. To date, not even the Daily Planet's notorious Cat Grant had been able to dig up any dirt on the mysterious sole owner and CEO of Kent-Danvers Inc. Whatever else Miss Kent-Danvers might be it was clear that she kept her professional and personal lives completely separate.

Now she was still trying to figure out how she had let Terry rope her into this. Of all the ways to spend a Friday evening, hob-knobbing with the rich and stuffy at the Wayne Manor Annual Charity Ball was not one she would have willingly chosen.

While the event had started out decades early, hosted in those times by Thomas and Martha Wayne during the rebuilding of what would become Gotham City, primarily for the elite of the former New York City, it had evolved over the years into a grand affair attracting the rich and famous from all over the nation. Of course, where the rich and famous went TV crews and reporters followed.

"It's disgusting." Kara had griped as Terry had waved the official invitation at her for the umpteenth time. "We give more to more charities than…" she trailed off as Terry shook her head.

"It's not about the amount, Miss Danvers!" Terry was firm. "It is the appearances! Publicity!"

"Publicity!" Kara snarled. "Those vultures are not interested in what Kent-Danvers Inc. does for the community. They are not going to report on the advances we have made in science and medicine."

"No, they won't." Terry had agreed. "They are going to see one of the nation's youngest CEOs, who is barely out of her teens, who just happens to be the sole owner of one of the newest and largest Research and Development Corporations. They are going to wonder if she is even old enough to drink…and they are going to speculate whether she is going to be a match for Gotham City's Rick Wayne. They are going to see that size of your contribution to his charities, and speculate why you gave so much and what you are going to get out of it."

"And yet you still insist I attend this circus!" Kara exclaimed.

"Yes." Terry had nodded. "Because it IS publicity. You've seen our numbers. You know we are running in the black but our numbers are starting to slip drastically. In three years time, we will be dipping into the red. You hired consultants to determine the reasons for this and you have their conclusions. Publicity. Or, in our case, the lack of it. We need to start a Public Relations campaign and this will be the start of it." She held up a hand to silence Kara before she could respond. "No, stuffy scientists and sterile facts and figures won't cut it. YOU are the heart and soul of Kent-Danvers…You need to be the one front and center."

Two hours later, Kara knew that the evening was not going to be as bad as she had feared…it was going to be worse.

Wayne Manor was not located in Gotham City proper but situated near the westernmost city limits in what could only be called a wilderness. After Gotterdammerung had completely destroyed New York City, what had once been the Bronx had been completely leveled and rebuilt, primarily due to, and initially financed by, the Wayne family. It was the first of the former boroughs of New York to break away and form an individual city. Thus had Gotham City been born. During the clearing and rebuilding, a large portion of land on the western edges of the city had been allowed to return to nature…and it was here that the Wayne Family had built their extravagant mansion! Planted firmly in the middle of several acres of wooded land, one had to traverse a long, winding narrow road for nearly ten minutes before one even reached the main gates that led to the 'official' driveway. It was here, near those gates that the uninvited reporters and paparazzi lined the road, trying desperately to catch glimpses and photos of the rich and famous.

While most of the guests arrived in long black limousines, Kara had opted to drive herself. Probably a poor choice. A woman with long dark hair in a pristine reconditioned yellow Mustang convertible from the 60's was bound to attract attention.

Cameras flashed left and right as she pulled up to the gate and waited for one of the guards to approach.

"I'm sorry, ma'am." The guard started talking, placing a hand on the door of the car. "This is a closed event tonight. Only invited guests are allowed through."

"Indeed?" Kara looked at the guard without smiling. "I must admit that I admire the fact that you have the ability to judge who has and has not been invited without first asking." She turned and snagged a small purse from the passenger seat and popped it open. Without even looking, she reached in and snagged a slip of paper. She held it out to the bewildered guard. "I was really not in the mood to attend in any case. If you will just pass this along to Mr. Wayne, I would appreciate it."

The guard took the paper and glanced at it, his face going pale.

"Uh…this is a check…." He swallowed and ran a finger under his collar, is if it were suddenly too tight as he read the name signed under the large amount. "uh…Miss Kent-Danvers?"

"Why yes, I do believe it is." Kara actually smiled now as she moved her hand to the gear shift and dropped into reverse. "If you'll be sure that gets to Mr. Wayne I'll just be on my way."

"Ma'am! I can't…I mean I….uh…" He thrust the check back into her hand and quickly stepped back away from the car, aware of all the cameras flashing. There was no way this was going to end well for him. "Of course you are on the list, Ma'am." He waved frantically for the gate to be opened. "If you just follow the drive on around to the Manor a Valet will be waiting for you!"

Kara sighed and passed through the gates. True to the guard's promise, a Valet was indeed waiting at the bottom of the steps leading to the Manor's main entrance.

The elderly man deftly made his way down the winding steps, hardly noticing when the smooth walls of the mansion above transformed into the rough-hewn walls of the tunnel leading to the tremendous cavern below.

Reaching the end of the staircase, he took a moment to look around in order to locate his target. With a sigh, he noticed the young man seated before a large computer screen, typing furiously on a keyboard before him.

"Master Rick." The old gentleman scolded as he approached. "You do, perhaps, recall that you have a house full of important people?"

"Yes, Alfred." Bruce Richard Alistair Wayne replied in a distracted manner. Depending on who you talk to the latest heir to the Wayne fortune, who preferred to go by the diminutive form of his first middle name, Rick Wayne was either an immoral wealthy playboy trying to live up to the image his grandfather portrayed prior to his marriage to Selina Kyle, the sharp-witted CEO of Wayne Industries, or an extremely civic conscious philanthropist. Few, however, knew that there was a fourth persona and Alfred Pennyworth who, like his father and his father before him had been in their times, was a former butler of the late Mr. and Mrs. Damien Wayne and was now butler for their son Rick, was one of those few.

Now he looked up at the computer screen, recognizing the background skyline.

"Something in Metropolis has gotten your attention?" He drawled. "Has Gotham become boring to you?"

"Watch this, Alfred." Rick touched a few keys and the view changed to the shaky view consistent with video shot from a phone.

The view depicted a standoff between Metropolis Police and some very well armed bank robbers. There were five criminals and each one of them held a child in his arms, weapons pointed at their heads.

Alfred's eyes widened when a multi-colored blur shot across the screen and suddenly the children were gone. Whoever was making the video turned the camera around to show that the children were now huddled together behind the police lines.

Sounds of gunfire caused the person with the phone to turn back to the bank entrance to see all five of the gunmen firing on the single figure that stood before them, between them and the police. That person remained motionless except for her arms which were moving too fast for the video to capture. From the rear angle of the camera, all that could be seen of the woman was that she was dressed in normal business attire and had short blond hair done in what was commonly called a pixie cut.

"She's catching ricochets and misses." Rick commented.

"How can you tell?" Alfred peered closer.

"I slowed the video down." Rick shrugged. "The rest are simply bouncing off her." He paused the video and turned to Alfred. "I read the after-action police report. At least of two of the weapons being used were heavy duty weapons. Meant to punch through armor. From this video, we can see those weapons causing her to stagger a bit, but not penetrating or putting her down!."

"Who is she?"

"According to the reports I have, they are calling her Supergirl. Some are speculating that she is the one that left the message in Superman's Fortress a few years ago. Claiming to be his cousin." Rick replied. "Apparently she doesn't appear often and then only in extreme cases. It is almost as if she just happens to be in the vicinity when she does make an appearance. The fact that she is wearing normal clothes rather than a uniform or costume supports that conclusion." He sighed. "So far she has not spoken to anyone and not one of the videos taken gotten a clear enough view of her face to allow me to run a facial recognition program. I have found traces that suggest that some images and videos have been scrubbed."

"Scrubbed, Master Wayne?"

"Someone has deliberately gone through and deleted certain images and videos." Rick mused. "I would bet that those images and videos possibly showed this woman's face!"

"If I might be so bold, Master Rick," Alfred again used the title that Rick hated. He only used it to stress the importance of what he was saying. He straightened up and turned to his onetime ward. "Why is this person of such an interest to you that she would cause you to skip out on a charity event that you organized?"

Rick looked back at the screen and sighed again.

"You're right, Alfred." He reluctantly agreed. "I have my plate full with Gotham." He stood, smoothed out his tux and then glanced back at the screen before following Alfred to the staircase. "But if she shows up here…."

"Until such a time, perhaps it might be a good idea to remember that though you have a room full of donators to the Wayne Charities, the CEO of your largest competitor is also upstairs with all your other clients!" Alfred sniffed.

"Alright, Alfred." Rick laughed as he followed.

Infuriating!

Leah Lane had found a relatively quiet corner in the huge ballroom and now stood with her back to the corner, her shoulders leaning against the walls on either side. She had her arms folded across her chest, all but hiding the press badge that hung on a lanyard around her neck, and glared across the great room as she contemplated the various ways she could torture Richard White – editor of the Daily Planet. The old fart had not only ignored her pleas to opt out of this assignment but had even gone so far as to assign her to act as a cub reporter for the Daily Planet's over glorified gossip columnist, Cat Grant. It didn't help matters that the old fart in question just happened to be her grandfather as well!

While it was true that she did not have the experience her grand-mother had acquired in her long years as an ace reporter before finally retiring and writing her memoirs, but she damned sure wasn't a wet behind the ears cub anymore!  
She sighed as she considered the injustice of it all. When her grandmother had been around her age the entire journalistic world had been laid at her feet in the form of Superman! While Lois had gone out of her way, climbed too far out on too many shaky limbs, to prove to the world she deserved the accolades they gave her, there was no denying that it was her first and exclusive interview with the so-called Man of Steel and then their brief but all too visible romance that had rocketed her to fame and fortune!

Of course, that romance had ended with Superman's death and it was several years before Lois had allowed herself to move on. Her career had continued and she eventually ended up marrying Richard White. She would retire only after their daughter died in a car accident, leaving Richard and Lois to raise their grand-daughter!

Though Lois rarely talked about Superman or the relationship they had, Leah got the feeling that it was never a sore subject with her grandparents. Richard never tried to compete with Lois' memory and if Lois ever compared them in her mind she never let it show. In fact, it had been Richard's idea for Lois to write her memoirs. Lois had agreed with the stipulation that the memoirs had to cover her entire career and personal life, not just that part that involved Superman.

Of course, Lois might have changed her mind had she known that her grand-daughter, then a teen quickly approaching her senior year in high school and wondering where to go from there, would take those memoirs as a guide for her own life! Like her grandmother, Leah had gotten bitten by the Journalistic bug! There was nothing more she wanted other than to be an Investigative reporter!

Though she had refused to use her grandfather's position as editor of the Daily Planet to her advantage, she was not above using her grandmother's name. Thus Leah Anne White became Leah Lane.

She had bounced around a few newspapers in smaller communities for a couple of years before gathering the courage to apply for a position with the Daily Planet. It was heartbreaking to find out that her application had been rejected by none other than her own grandfather. It was nothing personal, he had assured her. Merely a business decision. The name Lane was an icon with the Daily Planet allowing another reporter to use that name….

Personally, Leah had thought the reason to be a little more personal than even Richard had wanted to admit to himself. He was, she believed, afraid of appearing to show favoritism by hiring his own grand-daughter.

Thankfully the editor of the Daily Planet did not have complete control of the hiring process. Though he could terminate the employment of any employee within his domain, for just cause, a board determined who was hired in the first place. Richard had been outvoted! The rest of the board, it seemed, believed the return of the name LANE to the Daily Planet might help with rapidly dropping revenues! It also helped that Leah had, during her time out on her own had learned the ins and outs of blogging and vlogging and had already acquired a substantial following. Old newspapermen, like her grandfather, might resist delving into the electronic world of the internet but Leah was of the generation that knew without a doubt that unless newspapers embraced the new technology, they were going to be history.

With a sigh, Leah pushed away from the corner. She might not like the assignment…but her work ethic would not allow her to simply stand back and sulk. She would do her job!

Though she had been greeted at the door by a butler that had introduced himself as Alfred, 'Master Wayne's Butler', she had yet to catch sight of the man of the hour himself. She had not even attempted to mingle with the other guests gathered in the grand ballroom. Instead, she had slipped out as soon as an opportunity had arisen, choosing to wander the halls to admire the art.

There was nothing that would even hint at modern art in these grand hallways. Instead, there were portraits and classical statues. True art.

Thus far she had avoided reporters, paparazzi and other guests and had to admit that strolling through the fabulous artworks was quite enjoyable.

At the moment, she was staring up a life-size portrait of a woman and two men. The woman, situated between the men held a bundle in her arms with both men smiling down at it. The man on her right had his arm around her shoulders. The woman was, Kara knew, Selina Kyle. The woman that had, supposedly, tamed the ultimate playboy. That would make the man with his arm around her shoulders…

"That was taken from a black and white photo a reporter took when they were leaving the Hospital." A soft voice spoke from behind her and she turned to find Rick Wayne himself standing there. He was looking up at the picture, not at her. "My grandparents. The man to the left was their good friend and my grandfather's one time ward: Richard Grayson. I was named for both of them." He turned and looked at her and though he smiled it was not a smile that reached his eyes. "I still haven't figured out where the name Alistair came from. I never got the opportunity to ask my father about it."

Kara had, naturally, heard of the so-called Wayne Curse. Starting with Thomas Wayne, no male member of the Wayne family had ever lived to a ripe old age. Indeed, from the date listed under the portrait, all three of the adults shown, Bruce, Selina, and Richard, had perished together less than a year later under mysterious circumstances. Damien Wayne, Rick's father, had died before reaching the age of thirty-five…also under mysterious circumstances. One could not live in Gotham or Metropolis and not know of the Wayne Curse.

Now, standing there looking up at the portrait of his grandparents as they showed off their newborn son, there was none of the flamboyant playboy that society saw when they looked at Rick Wayne. Instead, Kara saw a grim, determined man.

As if noting her look, Rick shook himself and again smiled….this time it did reach to his eyes.

"Ms. Kent-Danvers, I presume?" He asked, extending a hand.

"Guilty as charged." Kara smiled as she extended her own hand. "But my name is Kara. If you don't Ms. Kent-Danvers me, I won't Mr. Wayne you!"

"First name basis already." Rick shook his head, grinning. "What will the news vultures make of that, I wonder?"

The remainder of the evening was, to Kara's surprise, actually enjoyable. When she and Rick had entered the ballroom, chatting like old friends, the reporters and photographers that had been allowed to attend had swarmed all over them.

Hours later, Alfred showed Kara to a private study and left her there while he and Rick ushered the last of the guests out of the mansion. Left to her own devices, Kara checked her phone, smiling to see that Terry had left her no less than seven text messages, demanding to know what was going on. From the messages, it appeared that those reporters present had not even waited for the event to end before plastering pictures and videos of her and Rick all over the television and internet. Speculation was running rampant and talking heads were looking forward to the opening of the stock market the next morning.

"Please tell me….I need a laugh." Rick sighed as he stepped into the study just as Kara giggled at Terry's latest frustrated text.

"My keeper." Kara smiled as she held up the phone. "It seems you and I are the talk of the town tonight and everyone is wondering what it means for Wayne Industries and Kent-Danvers Inc. If Terry could shout in a text message I would be deaf."

"Ah, afraid you're selling out?" Rick smiled and shook his head. "Don't get me wrong. If I thought you might, I would make an offer. But I've sorta made it a habit to read people and you don't strike me as the type to be willing to sell out."

"Well, on that, you would probably only be partially right." Kara disagreed. "If Wayne Industries' emphasis was on the type of research Kent-Danvers does, I would gladly hand it over." She shook her head. "I would rather be down in the labs working on something. Instead of shuffling papers and worrying about publicity."

"You might think so now, but I have my doubts as to whether you could actually go through with it." Rick smiled. "Not that it matters. As far as I am concerned, there is more than enough room for both of us." He gave a little laugh. "In fact, we do emphasize different areas of research, even if they do coincide from time to time. I see that as a good thing. Keeps us both on our toes!" He moved behind the desk that sat to one side in the room and, without even glancing, picked up a slim folder that lay there. He held it up for a moment and then extended it to Kara.

Intrigued, Kara took the folder and glanced through it, her eyebrows rising.

"These are research projects Kent-Danvers has been commissioned to undertake." She said, looking up.

"Five of them to be exact." Rick nodded. "By five different companies – all of which just happen to be silent subsidiaries of Wayne Industries." He shrugged. "Why go to the expense of reinventing the wheel? Those companies deal with projects that are more in line with Kent-Danver's medical emphasis than with Wayne Industries' mainstream R&D. Of course, I can't take credit for being the first to use a potential competitor for R&D. If you look further in that folder you will see what I mean. Imagine how surprised I was to discover that one of the largest contributors to Wayne Industries Law Enforcement R&D division just happens to be the Benjamin Danvers Foundation."

"My father." Kara laughed. "He was a Police detective in Metropolis before he moved with mom to Smallville." She shrugged, still smiling. "As you said, why reinvent the wheel when someone else is already working on it?"

After Kara left, Rick sat behind his desk, flipping through images on his computer.

"So have your suspicions been confirmed?" Alfred asked as he brought in a tray bearing two steaming cups of coffee.

"Suspicions, Alfred?" Rick shook her head. "What suspicions might those be?"

"Rick, my boy, don't try to fool me." The old butler sat one of the cups on the desk in front of Rick and took the other himself as he seated himself in the chair Kara had so recently occupied. "First I find you looking at video of that woman in Metropolis. Now you are going through pictures you had taken of Kara tonight and comparing them to pictures your great-grand-father had of Superman! You are looking for a family resemblance, maybe?"

"Busted." Rick laughed. "Thomas Wayne knew who Superman was…but he never made that knowledge public. I don't even think Superman was aware that Thomas had discovered his secret identity. He knew that Clark Kent and Superman were one and the same person. Now we have a mysterious 'supergirl' appearing, just as a new 'Kent' moves to Metropolis." He chuckled. "If her parents had simply given her the same surname as her father instead of saddling her with a hyphenated last name, it would have been more difficult to put the pieces together." He turned back to the computer screen and pulled up a large image of Kara Kent-Danver's face. "But to answer your question…yes. I would bet half the Wayne fortune on it!"

"So what now?" Alfred asked, giving his one-time charge a shrewd look.

"Now?" Rick touched a few keys on the keyboard before him and watched as the pictures and files dealing with his suspicions were deleted. "Now I go to bed and get rested up. It appears Rick Wayne has a dinner date in Metropolis tomorrow evening with one Kara Kent-Danvers. "I think it would be extremely rude of me to start off by accusing my prospective date of being…Supergirl!"

 _To be Continued….._


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3_

 _© Dylan (Clay) Clearbrook_

Metropolis

One would have thought that the CEO of a major institution such as Kent-Danvers Ltd. would be living in luxury in some penthouse. Such a one would not be familiar with the type of person that was Kara Kent-Danvers.

While there was a suite set aside for her in the penthouse of the Kent-Danvers building, Kara had made her home in a modest ranch-style home on the eastern border of the city where Metropolis and Paragon City met. This area, on both sides of the border, was kept sparsely populated with small neighborhoods and lush parks in abundance. Living in this area gave some semblance of small town living but with easy access to the major urban areas in either city.

It would not be uncommon for neighbors to see the young brown haired woman out mowing her lawn or washing her car or some other mundane task that one could not picture the CEO of Kent-Danvers Ltd. performing. Of course, many of those in the neighborhood were aware of who she was. They also knew that living here was her way of leaving the hustle and bustle of the corporate world behind, even if it were for a day or two.

Kara was in the process of drying off her Mustang when the police cruiser pulled into her drive and the sole officer stepped out.

She stood there and shook her head as she regarded the brunette in her crop-top and daisy duke shorts.

"Damn girl." She drawled. "I think you do that just to tease me!"

"I have no clue what you're talking about, Maggie." Kara laughed. She stood up straight and posed, with one hand on her car as she looked at her friend, Maggie Sawyer.

Shaking her head again, Maggie walked forward and drew the brunette into a hug.

"One of these days I swear I am going to convince you to swing my way!" she said with a smile.

"Anything can happen." Kara shrugged. "But some things are less likely than others."

"Damn." Maggie sighed, still smiling. It was a game they had played almost from the beginning of their friendship. When Maggie had made her pass, Kara had gently but purposely failed to notice. "You were all over the news last night, girl!" Maggie went on, her eyes sparkling. "So what did you think about Mr. Rick Wayne?"

"Well…we sorta have a date this evening." Kara blushed. "I am still not quite sure how that happened."

"He badgered you until you gave in?"

"Uh…actually, I asked him." Kara admitted. "He was the perfect gentleman the entire evening." She shook her head and changed the subject. She pointed to the police cruiser and then at Maggie's police uniform. "What is this? You've been plainclothes for over a year."

"New regulations." Maggie grumbled. "Plainclothes have to spend at least one week in uniform every three months."

She walked back to her cruiser and, reaching through the driver's side window, drew out a brown paper bag that already had large grease stains.

"I brought lunch…thought you might want to share." She said, holding up the bag as she returned to where Kara stood.

"You brought Whataburger!" Kara exclaimed, her eyes lighting up.

For years Whataburger franchises had been located only in the deep south of the country. Kara had never heard of the burger franchise until her adoptive parents took her on a vacation to Texas…and she had promptly fallen in love!

That vacation was also the first time she had met Maggie. Her father, Detective Lee Sawyers, had been Ben Danvers' partner in the Metropolis Police Department before Ben and Liz relocated to Smallville.

Not only had that vacation resulted in a love affair with the greatest burgers in the world, it had also signaled the beginning of what would turn out to be a firm, strong, friendship between the two girls.

The teen Maggie had made a pass…but the adult Maggie wouldn't dream of risking that friendship, no matter how much she teased about it!

Over the following years, it would not be uncommon for either girl to spend part of their summer in the other girl's home.

Of course, it was not long before Maggie learned that her friend was more than she appeared to be. Kara could count on one hand the number of people who knew her secret…and still have fingers left over. Maggie was one of those people!

"Let's go inside and chow down!" Maggie broke into Kara's thoughts and started walking toward the front door. Without waiting for an invitation she stepped through the door.

Kara followed and had barely closed the door behind her when Maggie rounded on her and stuck a finger in her face.

"Damnit Girl, you have got to be more careful!" She said. She had dropped the pleasant face and was pure furious Maggie!

"I assume you are talking about that bank heist the other day." Kara sighed. She took the Whataburger bag from Maggie and led the way to the kitchen. She waved Maggie towards the refrigerator for drinks while she pulled the burgers and fries from the bag and placed them on the small kitchen table.

Maggie snagged a couple of Pepsis and, after placing one in front of Kara, took a seat at the table and popped the top of hers.

"Yes, I am talking about the bank heist."

"What was I supposed to do, Maggie? Let them kill those kids? Those were members of the Council…you know damned well they would have!"

Maggie could only nod to that. The Council, the current incarnation of the paramilitary terrorist group that had been called The 5th Column, was a pure Nazi organization that still could not accept that the War had been lost decades ago. To them, Gotterdammerung, the villain that had destroyed New York City, was a hero!

Interestingly enough the Council, which considered itself a pure 'Aryan' organization, was active in only a few countries around the world: Germany was not one of them.

German law enforcement and Heroes did not bother with legal niceties when it came to the Council or any other Nazi group. With places like Buchenwald actually in Germany and Auschwitz in Poland made into museums to remind them of the horrors the Nazi's perpetrated; the Heroes and law enforcement crushed such groups utterly…usually without bothering to take prisoners.

"The problem is, Kara, some idiot with a cell phone almost got a shot of your face!" Maggie went on. "You're lucky that it blurred!"

Kara did not bother telling Maggie that the cell phone had, indeed, caught her face. It was only thanks to Kelex, who continuously monitored for such things, that the video had been blurred at just that precise moment.

Yet Kara knew that Maggie was right. Sooner or later Kelex would miss something.

"Kara, you need to make up your mind!" Maggie said after swallowing a huge bite of her Whataburger.

"There's nothing to make up." Kara shook her head. "This world had a Superman. Now it has heroes galore. It doesn't need a Supergirl!"

"You still don't get it, do you?" Maggie shook her head and bit her lip. It was an argument they had had many times over the years. "Forget it. I shouldn't have said that."

They both backed away from the explosive topic and were soon laughing and joking once again by the time Maggie's lunch break was over.

Kara stood at the door, watching as the police cruiser backed out of her drive and take off down the street.

Wayne Manor

Gotham City

"I cannot help but think that there is more to your desire to have dinner with Miss Kent-Danvers than her charming personality." Alfred Pennyworth drawled as he straightened Rick's tie.

Rick had adamantly refused to say more after his announcement the night before that he believed Kara Kent-Danvers to be none other than the mysterious 'Supergirl' that had periodically shown up in Metropolis over the past few months.

Rick straightened his cuffs with a thoughtful look on his face and then shook his head.

"Actually, Alfred, there isn't." he finally responded, his own surprise evident in his voice. "I've studied every single video and eyewitness accounts of her appearances and every single one of them suggest the same thing. One, she only appears in civilian clothing and, two, she only appears when it is apparent that no one else is going to show up! That tells me that she has no desire to be a 'hero' and that she only jumps in when she feels she absolutely has to."

"And in what way is there anything wrong with that, Master Rick?" Alfred asked stepping back to give his onetime ward a good once over. "It is no secret that there are countless individuals out there with Meta abilities who wish only to lead normal everyday lives!"

"Old Friend, I don't think there is anything wrong with it at all." Rick said, turning to look at himself in a mirror. He started to say more when the phone rang. He let Alfred get it and started for the door.

"One moment, Master Rick." Alfred stopped him before he got to the doorway. He turned as Alfred spoke a few more words into the phone and then hung up. "That was Miss Kent-Danvers." He announced.

"She's canceling?" Rick frowned.

"Oh no." Alfred smiled. "She just thought it might be appropriate for you to know where you were going for the evening."

"Well?" When Alfred told him, Rick returned to the mirror with a sigh. "I am way overdressed!"

Metropolis

"Oh my god. This is delicious!" Rick Wayne put his burger back on the platter on the booth table and licked his fingers.

"The great Rick Wayne, licking his fingers." Kara giggled before she took a bite out of her Whataburger. "Whatever would the gossip columns say if they could see you now?"

"That I'm slumming?" Rick teased as he reached for his drink.

"You will pay dearly for that remark, Mr. Wayne!" Kara warned, shaking a french fry at him.

After Maggie had left her house, Kara realized that she had an answer to the problem of where to go with Rick for dinner. She was sure that he had probably visited every single one of the upper crust restaurants in the entire area.

"How did you find this place?" Rick wondered as he looked around the crowded burger joint.

"Uh…actually, I cheated." Kara admitted. "This is the only Whataburger north of Oklahoma...and most likely the only one there ever will be this far north. In fact, it is in their franchise agreement that the franchises will only be located in the South."

"You didn't?" Rick laughed.

"I did." Kara admitted with an embarrassed grin. "It took me a year of negotiations before I finally got them to agree to a one-time exception to their southern states only rule."

"So Kent-Danvers Ltd. owns this franchise?"

"No. Dr, Liz Kent-Danvers owns it." Kara smiled. "I just funded it and, since mom still has her practice in Smallville, I sorta oversee it!"

"Riiight." Rick shook his head as he laughed. "I take back my comment about slumming it. I would never so denigrate such a fine dining establishment!"

Kara laughed and ducked her head to take another bite. She was not really that hungry, but..damn.

She had laughed when Alfred had told her that Rick was already ready for their date…in suit and tie. That she could picture. But the man sitting across the booth from her now was a far cry from the elegant playboy he usually portrayed. Instead, he was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt that had to have been hell getting on. To say that Rick Wayne was in excellent physical shape would have been understating the case!

Even though he did not have the grotesque muscular build of idiotic bodybuilders, the short sleeves of his t-shirt seemed strained to fit over the muscles on his arms…and it did nothing to hide his obvious six pack!

She had had to make a physical effort not to let her jaw drop when she had arrived in her convertible to pick him up.

Unknown to her, Rick was having much the same reaction to her chosen style of dress. Though she had elected to wear jeans rather than her daisy dukes, she was still wearing a crop top that resembled a shirt tied up under her breasts. It wasn't until she got out of the car that he noticed that she had completed the outfit with a pair of dark cowboy boots.

"So." He cleared his throat. "What's on the agenda after eating?"

"Ever been to the Lone Star?" Kara asked, a twinkle in her eye.

"I don't believe so." Rick tried to recall if he had ever heard of such a place.

"It's a dance bar in Paragon City." Kara went on. "From what I understand, it is a recreation of a 70's and 80's country and rock dance bar originally located in Kansas City." She nibbled on a fry while she contemplated him. "A girlfriend and I discovered it a couple of years back."

"Sounds…interesting." Rick responded, albeit a bit hesitantly.

Paragon City

Independence Port Borough

"Well…it's interesting, I'll say that." Rick looked around the dance bar as he let Kara lead him through the crowd to an empty table.

The actual bar filled the north end of the large club while the table seating area was a narrow strip that surrounded an extremely large dance floor with a break on the west side where a stage for a live band had been set up. At the moment the stage was empty except for a DJ with a laptop who was playing extremely high-quality music over the bar's sound system.

The dance floor itself was about half full of people dancing to rock music that was popular before most of them had been born!

"You should be here when they have a live band." Kara smiled as he held a seat for her and made sure she was seated before taking his own seat. "This place can get wild!"

"Why do I not find that hard to believe?" Rick responded, still looking around. The walls were decorated with gold records interspersed with pictures of country and rock musicians from the past.

Before Kara could respond, a waitress that looked like she should be working at a Hooters rather than a dance bar arrived at their table.

"KARA!" The waitress exclaimed, leaning in for a hug. "Haven't seen you here in ages! Where's Maggie?" She babbled on before Kara could respond. "And where did you catch THIS one?" She was giving Rick a once over, pursing her lips.

"Private fishing hole, Geri. Invitation only." Kara laughed. "Now behave yourself!"

"Girl…you do not play fair!" Geri pouted. She then laughed and pulled out a pad and pencil. "What can I get for you two?"

"I'll take a Long Island Ice Tea." Kara smiled.

"I don't suppose you have a selection of red wines?" Rick asked.

"He'll take an MGD." Kara butted in. Then both she and Geri looked at him and then at each other.

"Lite." They said together….laughing.

Rick raised an eyebrow but said nothing as Geri sauntered away.

"Don't mind Geri." Kara told him. "She flirts outrageously…but she's married and has two kids and is totally devoted to her family."

"She's married?"

"Yep." Kara craned her neck, looking back towards the bar and then pointed to the Bartender. "To him. Derick Goldstein. He and Geri own this place."

Rick looked just in time to see Geri lean across the bar and give the bartender a quick kiss.

"They moved here about four years ago from Kansas City." Kara went on. "According to him, his parents used to frequent the original Lone Star and had entire photo albums full of pictures from the place. Those pictures inspired him to recreate the Lone Star, but he didn't want to open it in Kansas City…so he and Geri sold off the club they had there and moved here."

As Kara spoke, Rick's mind was working. All it had taken was the mention of the Bartenders name for him to put the pieces together. He had, indeed, heard of the Lone Star before. But not in the way Kara might know. The Lone Star had popped up on his computer as one of many businesses that had been threatened by the terrorist group known as the Council. Businesses owned by known Jews.

Rick shook those thoughts from his head as he allowed Kara to drag him out on the dance floor.

Much later, he excused himself to go to the men's room.

The restroom door had barely closed behind him when he heard the commotion begin.

It began with a lot of screaming and shouting and quickly escalated to several shots fired.

Cracking the door to look out, Rick cursed when he saw several men in dark grey uniforms and brightly polished black jackboots, each carrying modern versions of the old MP-40 machineguns.

Several of the men, each with cruel sneers, held their weapons to the heads of women they had snatched from the crowd. One of which was Kara.

One of the men whirled at the sound of breaking glass and let loose with his weapon, firing on something or someone out of Rick field of vision.

"Damnit." Rick snarled and let the door close as he looked around. If he had been dressed in his suit this would be no problem but now…

With a grimace, Rick yanked at the material of his t-shirt, ripping it away from his body. He ripped a large section free and tied it around his face, just below his eyes.

He then, lowering himself towards the ground, he again cracked open the restroom door and slipped out.

He couldn't just rush the Council thugs. There would be no way he could take them all down before at least one of them pulled the trigger on the women they held hostage. A quick count showed that there were eleven men altogether, six of them holding a hostage each. He mentally targeted the one that had fired his weapon as the leader.

He looked around for something to use as a weapon and smiled when he spotted a large stack of the heavy metal coasters the waiting staff placed on the table. Moving quickly, he scrapped the cork bottoms from several of the metal plates and then readied himself. He would only get one shot at this.

He stepped out into plain sight and, his arm moving like a super speed piston, he sent ten of the discs flying like Frisbees toward ten separate targets. He leaped forward as the last disc left his hand, going straight for the leader.

The leader of the men didn't see Rick until it was too late. He had whirled at the sound of metal hitting flesh and then the grunts and thuds as his entire band was laid out. He spun, trying to bring his weapon up just as Rick foot connected with this face.

He flailed backward, spitting out blood and a few teeth, his weapon flying off.

Rick hoped the weapon would not discharge when it landed but he didn't have time to worry about it. The leader, obviously in excellent shape himself, was already charging towards him, screaming and cussing.

"You ignorant, goose-stepping punk." Rick growled as he dropped and swung his right leg around to sweep the leader's legs out from underneath him. The leader hit the floor hard, his nose smashing against the wood floor.

Rick knew he did not have a lot of time before the men he had hit with the discs began to recover so he did not even wait for the leader to scramble to his feet. Instead, he stepped forward and let the Nazi scum have a foot to the face. More teeth rattled on the floor and the leader was flung over onto his back. He made one attempt to get up…and then fell back to lie motionless.

Rick turned to deal with the other men, only to find the last of them being tied with cloth napkins…by Kara.

"Geri…no." Kara cried as she cradled the head of the lifeless woman in her lap.

Seeing everything under control, Rick had slipped into the back, rummaging around until he located a promotional t-shirt that would fit him.

By the time he had returned, the police were already moving into the bar and Kara had gone to the bar to find both Geri and Derick Goldstein dead.

He waited with her until the police had gotten everyone's statement about what had happened…up to and including statements concerning the mysterious man that had, in the words of one woman, "saved them all!"

He had then guided Kara out of the bar and to her car. He placed her in the passenger's seat and, after getting her keys, got behind the steering wheel.

He didn't ask Kara where she wanted to go. He drove straight to Gotham City and Wayne Manor!

 _To be Continued….._


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter 4_

 _© Dylan (Clay) Clearbrook_

Leah Lane cursed under her breath as she pushed her way through the crowd of onlookers until she reached the cordoned off area before the entrance to the nightclub. In addition to the normal streetlights and flashing signs of places catering to the night crowd, the night was split with the constant strobe of red and blue lights from multiple police vehicles and ambulances.

While there was a steady stream of paramedics and cops, both uniformed and plainclothes, through the entrance of the nightclub, many more uniformed officers acted as crowd control, keeping both the looky-loos as well as possible family members of potential guests out.

Catching her breath, Leah looked around and found that she was separated from the main mass of other reports that were shouting questions and demanding answers from stone-faced officers who ignored them.

She turned to the person standing closest to her and was surprised to find herself standing beside a police officer wearing Metropolis DP patch on her shoulder. She instantly considered several questions she could and probably should ask…and rejected them all. Simply from the look on her face, this officer was not here in any official capacity.

"I'm sure that whoever it is, they are okay." She spoke softly, leaning close. "From the reports we've been able to get, there were only three fatalities: The owner and his wife and one of the assailants."

Startled, the officer turned to look at her, taking in her press badge. She opened her mouth and then, possibly seeing the look of true concern on Leah's face rather than the crazed look of a vulture circling in for a feast, she shut it and gave a sharp nod.

She took a breath, turning slightly so that Leah could read her name tag: Det. Maggie Sawyer.

"I knew the owner, Derick, and his wife, Geri." She spoke softly. "Another friend of mine helped to finance them when they moved up here from Kansas City."

Leah's mind went into overdrive as she went over the data she had hastily prepared before she had left her apartment. The Goldstiens had sold their Kansas City business and moved to Paragon City to open the Lone Star. Unfortunately, what could have easily been the seed money for an establishment in KC, where prices were lower and the cost of living not so high, was not quite enough. So Derick had gone looking for sponsors…and had hit pay dirt when he met…Kara Kent-Danvers!

And it was the reported presence of Kara Kent-Danvers and Rick Wayne that had drawn every reporter in a hundred mile radiance.

"Ms. Kent-Danvers and Mr. Wayne are already gone." She informed the officer quietly. She nodded her head at the still shouting gaggle of reporters. "Though I don't think they know that."

The officer gave her a sharp look.

"And how do you know?"

"I have a contact in the Paragon City PD." Leah answered with a shrug. The thought that she was talking to a detective of the Metropolis PD crossed her mind even as the words slipped out and she bit her lip.

Maggie gazed at the reporter. She had turned her attention back to the entrance of the nightclub as guests began to trickle out in twos and threes.

"Why aren't you over there with the others?" She asked.

"I'm a reporter, not a vulture." Leah responded, glancing over at the gaggle of reporters with a look of distaste. She waved a hand negligently toward them. "Look at them. All they are doing is shouting questions; first at the police and now at those people." She shook her head. "They don't give a damn what those people have gone through…they just want answers they can use in the news. Headlines and sensationalism. They are not seeing those people as people…merely stories. They aren't even looking."

"Looking?" Maggie frowned.

"Looking." Leah nodded. Without thinking, she placed a hand on Maggie's arm and inclined her head towards a group of guests just exiting. "See them? They are all scared…but you can tell by just looking at them…at the way they are acting, that they witnessed something extraordinary. They are frightened by what the council did…but relieved and elated to have witnessed one man take them all down…and saddened because he was not able to save the owner and his wife."

"You can tell all that just by looking at them?" Maggie glanced down at the hand on her arm and tried to ignore the shivers that the touch sent through her.

"It helps to have a bit of insight as to what actually went on," Leah smirked…and then seemed to realize that she was talking to a police officer. "Uh…I hope you aren't going to get my contact in trouble for talking to me."

"Not my department." Maggie smiled and then wagged a finger at the reporter. "But if you have a contact in the Metropolis PD, don't tell me." She started to add something more when her cell phone began playing the ringtone she had set up for Kara. "Excuse me." She whispered as she pulled her android out of a vest pocket.

"Kara! Are you…oh…" She paused and listened for a moment. "Right…tomorrow morning. No…no…you were right…she doesn't need to be alone right now. Thank you." She hung up and slid the android back into her pocket.

"Let me guess." Leah smiled. "Rick Wayne?"

"How did you know?" Maggie demanded.

"The first officers on the scene recognized them and processed them first to get them out before that horde descended on them," Leah responded., ticking off items on her fingers. "You didn't correct me earlier when I mentioned their names…You mentioned that you were friends with the Geri Goldstein and that another friend helped to finance them. Kara Kent-Danvers is on public record as having helped finance the Lone Star. You said the name Kara when you answered the phone. While not impossible, I would find it too coincidental for one person to have more than one friend named Kara."

"Ah." Maggie nodded. "Standard practice." She said, addressing Leah's first point. "People like that tend to draw crowds…getting them processed and out before the crowd gets too big makes the job easier." She shrugged. "And yeah…that was Rick Wayne. Kara is a bit shook up and he's taking her to Wayne Manor so she won't be alone since I am supposed to be on duty tonight." She sighed and turned to push back through the crowd. She was not surprised when Leah walked with her. "I just wish I could get a straight story about what went on in there tonight. Everyone says a single man saved them…but the details are rather sketchy."

"Er….I think I might be able to help in that." Leah spoke hesitantly.

"What do you mean?" Maggie stopped and turned to the slightly smaller woman.

"Keep walking." Leah hissed, taking Maggie's arm once again and urging her on. "Remember I mentioned my contact in the Paragon PD? Well, I might have gotten a copy of the videos from the Lone Star security system."

Maggie stopped again and looked at the reporter.

"We are going to have to talk about what is and is not appropriate!" She said and then gave a slight smile. "After we take a look at that video!"

The gentle knocking on the door was all it took to bring Kara to full wakefulness. There was a brief moment of confusion as she took in her surroundings before the events of the previous evening crashed back into her consciousness.

Instead of taking her home, Rick had brought her straight to Wayne Manor.

He had been the perfect gentleman. He had taken her cell phone from her purse and, after having her unlock it, had scrolled through her contacts until he found Maggie's name and called her.

Being a Metropolis detective, Maggie Sawyer had predictably heard of the tragedy at the Lone Star in Paragon City. It wouldn't be until some bright reporter went through the names of those present that it would be splashed on both tv and papers that the areas most notable playboy, Rick Wayne, and the reclusive CEO Kara Kent-Danvers had been guests at the time. Rick gave her the details and, after assuring Maggie that her friend had taken no injury, informed her that he was taking her to Wayne Manor so she would not be alone. He then gave her directions and told her that he would instruct the manor gate guards to let her in if she wished to come out in the morning after she got off duty.

Able to hear both sides of the conversation, though she didn't really pay attention at the time, Kara now wondered how Rick had known that Maggie was not going to be off duty until the following morning…Maggie had not mentioned it during their short conversation.

Pulling up to the front of the Manor, they had been met by an obviously concerned Alfred. Once Rick had informed the butler that Kara would be staying the night in one of the guest rooms, Alfred had instantly assigned one of the female house staff to look after her.

A quick use of her pentra-vision….what Kal had erroneously called X-ray vision…was all it took to see that it was that young woman that was now standing outside the door to her room.

"Come on in." She called out as she scooted to set up in the huge bed.

The maid…or whatever she was…looked as if she were barely out of her teens, yet she had the demeanor of a complete professional as she entered. Not surprising. From what she had seen of Alfred, she was pretty sure that anyone that did not meet his strict standards would not last long in Wayne Manor.

"Good morning, Ma'am." The young woman, Kara wasn't sure if she had ever been told her name, entered and pulled the drapes to let in the day. "Mr. Wayne has invited you to have breakfast with him if you wish before your friend arrives. If not, I can get something for you to eat here."

"No, that's okay." Kara ran a hand over her head…and froze. Gone was her wig of long brown hair. Instead, she felt only her natural, short, blonde hair. "Uh…"

"You will find your things in the restroom." The young girl said, gesturing toward an open door. "Should I inform Mr. Wayne that you will be joining him?"

"Uh…yes…yes of course." Kara stammered. "Just give me a few minutes." She noticed that she was wearing a pair of cream colored pajamas and looked up at the girl.

"Mr. Alfred instructed that your clothes be cleaned…there were…stains." The woman gave a sympathetic smile. "Appropriate clothing has been furnished for you." Again she gestured toward the bath. She retreated to the entrance. "I will inform Mr. Wayne that you will join him for breakfast, Ma'am. I will return shortly to guide you to the Morning Room."

Kara waited until the young woman had closed the door behind her before jumping from the bed and racing to the bathroom.

The bathroom was damned near as big as the room she had slept in. There, at a vanity, she found her small purse lying beside a wig stand that currently held her brown wig. She glared at the wig, which no one should have been able to tell was a wig or even remove, as she dug through her purse. She withdrew a bracelet that most people would consider to be a Smart Bracelet.

She strapped the bracelet to her left wrist and waited while security embedded within it positively identified her before activating. She frowned when a small yellow light, that should have been green, appeared. The yellow signified that, although it had identified her, it could not make the connections it should have made. In this case, it should have instantly opened a connection directly to Kelex.

What the hell? Kara sat in the seat before the vanity. She had to think this through. There were obviously some gaps in her memory. She felt her face go red as she recalled the multiple glasses of wine she had consumed after they had arrived at the Manor. Rick had not tried anything funny. He had simply been there…holding her when she cried, listening when she talked. In fact, it had been Rick who had finally cut her off of the wine and….that is where things got fuzzy.

She dimly recalled him assisting her to the guest room...where he had turned her over to…Alysha…the young woman's name was Alysha. It had been Alysha that had removed her blood-stained clothes and furnished her with pajamas. But the wig….no…it had not been Alysha who had removed the wig. She felt herself blush again as she recalled ripping the wig off and throwing it across the room….with enough force to knock several pictures off the far wall in Rick's office. She closed her eyes, taking deep breaths.

She knew better than to drink too much. Since Terran and Kryptonian physiologies were so similar, any substances that could affect Earth humans were likely to have similar effects on her. Her Kryptonian body would simply metabolize the substances much quicker than a Terrans. The end result…it took a lot more to get her drunk…and she would not stay that way long once she stopped drinking.

She winced and rubbed her temples. On top of that, her natural quick healing seemed to do nothing for hang-overs!

Warned that Kara was on her way, Rick poured a small glass of something that looked vile and smelled worse from a sealed container in the middle of the table and, as soon as Alysha ushered her into the room, held it out to her.

"Don't smell, don't taste and for god sake don't sip." He ordered. "Just drink it."

Glaring, Kara took the glass and in one long draw, chugged the contents down. It took every bit of willpower he had for Rick to keep from laughing at the face and the sputtering that followed.

"What was that….shit?" Kara demanded when she had recovered from coughing and gagging.

"Alfred's personal hang-over remedy," Rick answered. "I wasn't sure if you would need it, but better safe than sorry." He held a seat out for her and seated her before taking his own seat across from her at the table. "I would have had it sent to you in your room, but I didn't want to risk you taking out your anger on the help." He gave a smile to show that he was joking…somewhat. "Give that fifteen to twenty minutes to work and we can have breakfast." When Kara opened her mouth he held up a hand. "No, right now you may not be feeling like eating…but you will be. Trust me."

He watched her as she closed her eyes, taking deep breaths. She had not, he noticed, replaced her wig. Personally, he found he liked the short pixie cut blonde hair better. It seemed to fit her better than the long brown hair.

He had been a bit startled at her reaction when they had arrived at Manor last night. It was not the reaction a normal person who had witnessed such horrendous events, but rather the reaction of a person who knew they could have prevented such an event in the first place. While she blamed the Council for committing the act, it was her own reluctance to act that had caused her anger. Anger and remorse that only worsened as she finished off bottle after bottle of wine. At that, Rick felt a bit guilty himself. He knew he should have cut her off after the first bottle…but instead, his natural curiosity had let her finish off five more in the time it took him to drink two glasses.

Kara frowned, noting the way he was looking at her and squared her shoulders.

"What happens now?" She demanded.

"Now," Rick started as he picked up his cup of coffee. "We eat breakfast and wait for your friend Maggie to get here. I called her this morning and arranged to send a driver for her…" he checked his watch "…in about an hour so she can drive your car home if you aren't up to driving just yet."

"That's not what I meant." Kara grimaced.

"I know what you meant, Kara." Rick paused and took a drink of his coffee, his eyes never leaving hers as he looked at her over the cup. He sat the cup down and regarded her for a moment. "Though we got out of there last night before the news vultures descended, they have already discovered that both you and I were present at the Lone Star when the Council struck. Some are even suggesting that one or both of us may have been their target. That it was a kidnapping attempt that went wrong."

"That…" Kara shook her head. "That's not what happened."

"No, it isn't." Rick agreed. "We just happened to be there when they decided to make an example of a business run by Jews."

"I can't believe this is happening." Kara rubbed her temples, her eyes closed.

"It's the Council, Kara." Rick said. "As far as they are concerned, World War 2 isn't over and won't be until every last one of them is eliminated or they are victorious." He paused as if considering whether or not to continue and then took the plunge. "Superman may have helped win the war against Nazi Germany, but even he could not totally eradicate the evil ideology behind it." He shrugged. "He may have been able to nip our current crop of Nazis in the bud if he had not been killed by that Kryptonite meteor, but we'll never know." He reached over and picked up a small bell sitting by his plate and gave it a ring.

Almost instantly servers appeared carrying plates filled with food.

"Enough talk." He nodded as the plates were placed before them. "You need to eat and then get ready to go when Detective Sawyer gets here."

Rick stood with Alfred at the entrance, watching as Kara's Mustang, with Maggie at the wheel, turned out of sight down the long driveway.

"I assume the reporters have been cleared from the drive?" He asked.

"As much as legally possible." Alfred nodded. "Once beyond the outer gates, there is not much the guards can do. I have, however, instructed them to make sure a lane is cleared so that the two ladies can depart without stopping." He turned to look at his onetime ward. "What happens now?"

"Now…" Rick scowled, "Now I think it is time I expand my activities beyond Gotham."

"I was referring to the young lady." Alfred raised one eyebrow, Spock fashion.

"That is up to her, Alfred." He turned back into the entrance. "I am not going to force her into a role she doesn't want."

"Perhaps I need to be more specific." Alfred drawled. "Will you be seeing her again?"

Rick stopped, his hand on the door handle and looked back at Alfred and then towards the now empty driveway.

"I am afraid that is also up to her." He answered, knowing as he did that he was failing miserably at hiding the tone of wistfulness in his voice.

Due to her schedule, Maggie was not able to stay with Kara as long as she would have liked. At Kara's insistence, she had driven to the Kent-Danvers Building. In the penthouse suite, she would be out of reach of reporters.

"So far none have been spotted around your home, but I wouldn't count on that to last." Maggie had informed her. Having known Geri, Kara knew Maggie was probably hurting as well.

The drive from Wayne Manor to the Kent-Danvers Building had been extremely quiet and Kara had been content to leave it that way until Maggie had pulled into the underground parking beneath the Kent-Danvers Building.

"Just say it and get it over with." She finally growled. Maggie pulled into the spot by the private elevators reserved for Kara, but the car into park and shut off the engine before twisting in the seat to look at her.

"Just what is it you think I am going to say?" She demanded. "I know you, Kara. Right now, the only person blaming you is you!"

"I could have saved her! I could have saved them both!" Kara yelled. She closed her eyes and shook her head. "I could have saved her." She repeated in a whisper.

"Nothing is certain, Kara." Maggie responded after a moment. "But yeah, you probably could have." Kara's eyes grew wide at Maggie's words.

"What?" Maggie shrugged. "You want me to lie to you? You want me to tell you there was nothing you could do?" She snorted. "We both know that wouldn't be the truth, don't we?" She waved a hand towards the windshield and then rested that arm on the steering wheel. "You saved those kids and the cops at that bank heist…so why couldn't you do the same for Geri?" She didn't give Kara time to recover from the shock of her words before she plowed on. "I'll tell you why. Because you weren't ready for it: You were surprised and by the time the surprise wore off…it was over." She reached out and took one of Kara's hands.

"You are not your cousin, Kara. He felt the need…the calling…to become what he became." She went on. "Just because you don't feel that same need…that same calling…does not make you a bad person, Kara. You have spent years trying to be a normal person…not a supergirl. You act only when you feel you absolutely have to….when you come to the conclusion that help will not arrive in time if you don't. But every time you have acted you have had the luxury of time. Time to wait to see if the cavalry will arrive or if you have to be the cavalry. This time…this time you didn't have that luxury. The cavalry did arrive…but too late to save Geri."

"It was Rick." Kara whispered. "It wasn't a supergirl that saved everyone else…it was a millionaire playboy!"

"I know." Maggie nodded, causing Kara to look at her. She shrugged and, without telling her exactly how she had gotten a look at the security footage, told her what she had seen. "I saw the security videos. It didn't take me long to figure out. Before the Council goons enter, you and Rick can be seen at the table. Then, afterward, a bare-chested man wearing a cloth over his face like an old style bandit takes out the Council. The cloth mask is the same color as Rick's shirt. Then again later, both you and Rick can be seen…this time, however, Rick is wearing a different shirt. The video angles did not show exactly how he took the majority of the goons out, only how he took out the leader."

For a moment it seemed as if Kara would say something else, instead, she simply shook her head again and opened the car door, stepping out.

"Do you need to use the car to get to work?" She asked, shutting the door.

"No." Maggie got out of the car and walked around to pull Kara into a hug. When she pulled back, she put the keys to the Mustang in her hand. "I drove here and parked in the visitor parking. I figured you would want to come here." She gave a sad smile. "I had Rick's driver pick me up here." She put her hands on Kara's shoulders and held her out at arm's length. "Call me if you need me…promise?"

"Promise." Kara mumbled. She stood there and watched as Maggie made her way out of the private parking area before entering the elevator. Once the doors slid shut behind her, she turned and punched the button for the penthouse. She waited while the scanners she had installed confirmed her identity and then felt the subtle acceleration as the elevator moved.

When the doors opened into her private suite, Kara stepped out and paused. For a moment she considered activating Kelex to determine what had caused her inability to reach him while at Wayne Manor, then shook her head and walked across the plush carpet of the living room to stand before the floor to ceiling windows that gave a view of the Bay.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. She sighed and let her eyes wander over the bay toward the city of Gotham on the other side. She wasn't a hero like Kal had been. She was just a just a young woman trying to fit into normal human society…and now a young woman…a friend…and her husband was dead because she wasn't a hero!

She turned away from the window and made her way to the bath. There she removed the wig and ran her hands over her short blond hair. She leaned on the sink and gazed at the figure in the mirror. There were no red eyes from crying or drinking too much the night before. The healing ability bestowed upon her under Earth's yellow sun had already taken care of that.

Was she wrong? It was a question she had never stopped asking herself. Like Maggie had said, she had acted only when she felt she absolutely had to. Always before she had waited to make sure no one else was going to jump in and do what had to be done before jumping in herself.

In terms of sheer power, she was every bit as powerful as Superman had been. Of course, the extent of Superman's powers had, over the years since his death, been somewhat exaggerated. Yes, he was strong. Strong enough to lift an ocean liner…but not strong enough to move the moon out of its orbit (even if he had been ignorant enough to try such a feat). Yes, he could fly…and he could move damned fast….but not fast enough to turn back time. At her fastest, she had clocked herself at just over Mach 5, or Hypersonic, and she could not imagine that Kal had been able to move any faster.

Nor had Superman been as invulnerable as the legends made him out to be. That much she knew from the records Kelex had kept of Kal's injuries…and her own personal experiences. Of course, weapons during the 40's and 50's had not been anywhere near as powerful as the weapons of the modern age. While he might have been able to shrug off being shot with an old-style machine gun, today's armor piercing rounds would have bruised him every bit as much as they did her. It might take a hell of a lot of power to actually pierce her skin…more power than most weapons had, but there was no denying that some of the more powerful weapons packed punches that HURT! No. While she might be extremely tough, total invulnerability was a myth. Just like the myth that with super hearing, Superman could hear a bug crawling on the other side of the Earth. Or could see the inhabitants of other planets in far-off galaxies with vision powers. Okay, the heat vision wasn't a myth….but Kara had yet to figure out how that worked…it just…did. Never out of control like some of the movies had portrayed. It was something that did NOT occur accidentally. It took concentration and practice. As far as the super hearing and the other vision powers…..yeah…they were extremely enhanced. But again, nothing that was always on. These took concentration and practice just like the heat vision. And the range was limited. If she concentrated, she might be able to hear sounds from around Metropolis…but there was no way she could filter out all other sounds to the exclusion of a single conversation.

Her eyes could focus so that she could see in both the telescopic and microscope ranges, but even that had its limits. She could look up and, on a clear night, make out details of the various Lunar colonies, but only the larger structures. Going the other way, she could see what an average person could see through a very good microscope, but no…she couldn't see into the atomic or subatomic ranges. And as for her Pentra-vision…she could not see through walls or buildings and get a clear-as-day vision of what lay on the other side, especially if there were no light on the other side. Unless the lighting on the other side was bright enough, the best she could get was a vague shape of an object.

Pushing away from the sink, Kara stripped out of the clothes borrowed from Rick and stepped into the shower, turned the faucet to its hottest setting, and then leaned against the wall, allowing the water from the overhead rain showerhead to cascade over her. She stood there for several moments before soaping down and rinsing off and then washing her hair.

Stepping out, she toweled off and, after hanging the towel on the towel rack, pad into the bedroom. With a sigh, she sat on the foot of her bed, staring at the floor. Finally, she squared her shoulders.

"Kelex!" She called out. As if merely waiting for her command, a section of the bedroom wall slid open to allow the entrance of the elongated, tear dropped shaped remote that served as the 'visual' representation of the Kryptonian super-computer to enter.

"Welcome home, Mistress Kara." The tone was high pitched yet decidedly male.

"Kelex, run diagnostics on my wrist com." She ordered.

"Diagnostics complete. Nothing is wrong with the unit." Was the almost immediate response.

"Incorrect, Kelex." Kara shook her head. "For several hours the wrist com was unable to establish communication with the main system. Search the logs to confirm."

"Confirmed." The response was slower this time, almost as if Kelex were surprised. "Contact with the wrist com was lost…" the voice cut off only to resume instantly. "Mistress Kara, after performing a trace, contact with the wrist com was cut off when you entered the grounds of Wayne Manor last night and was restored the instant you departed the grounds. Further analysis shows that this was not the first such incident. It appears that contact with the wrist com was also lost during your first trip to Wayne Manor the previous day.''

"Yet cell phone reception was not hindered." Kara mused.

"It appears that Wayne Manor resides in the center of a null zone that I cannot penetrate. I have also been able to locate another such null zone…this one located on the Peregrine Peninsula." Again a pause. "This was…unexpected." Had it been under other circumstances, Kara might have found it amusing that Kelex sounded almost indignant that any technology on Earth might thwart him.

"Get used to it, Kelex. Your programming has prejudiced you into believing that Kryptonian Technology is the end all. It isn't." Kara stood and moved to her chest of drawers to find panties and a sports bra. "Can you tell what is in the second null zone?"

"Portal Corps." Kelex answered instantly. "A subsidiary of the Tesla Corporation, Ma'am."

"Portal Corps. Huh." Kara stepped into a pair of faded jeans and pulled a t-shirt with a KISS logo over her head.

Portal Corps was the entity responsible for ending the debate about whether or not alternate universes existed…by confirming their existence! It was also one of several institutions currently at odds with the United States Government. Simply because it refused governmental oversight and employed an extremely well armed and well-trained security force one hundred percent loyal to the Tesla Corporation to back up its refusal.

"I would do a search for other similar sites," Kara told Kelex as she pulled on a pair of sneakers. "For now, passive scans and analysis only."

"Very well, Ma'am."

"That's all, Kelex." Kara waved the remote away and watched as it returned to its niche in the wall.

"What do we have here?" Tina McIntyre studied the data that was displayed on her computer screen. She started to type a new command and then stopped.

"Ma'am?" Adrienne Keller, Tina's executive assistant stepped up by her desk to glance at the screen.

"The security grid just reported a ping, Adri." Tina mused.

"The government again?" Adrienne frowned, shaking her head.

"I don't think so." Tina looked at the screen. "The system reports the ping as coming from an unknown source. If it had been a known government agency, it would have been recognized as such." She paused, glancing again as new data appeared. "There it is again. It isn't an intrusion. More like a passive scan." She flipped back to the previous page of data. "It is almost as if this first was an accidental ping." She sat back. "I think someone out there accidentally discovered our security field in passing and then came back for a closer look. They are not being aggressive. Merely checking us out."

"Forgive me for being alarmist, Ma'am, but isn't the fact that they can detect our system at all a bit…disconcerting?" Adrienne ventured.

"Possibly." Tina agreed. "But then, we never even considered the possibility that the system would remain undetected forever. The Government detected it years ago…so what's to stop anyone else?" She pushed back from her desk and stood. "We also know of two other groups that have detected the grid." This last was said through the tight lips of anger.

"So you don't believe this detection is from the Malta Group?" Adrienne asked, knowing full well which of the two groups Tina had mentioned was the cause of the anger. The other had not, as of yet, proved to be a threat.

"No." Tina shook her head. "This isn't Luthor's style." She took a breath. "We can't assume that no one else has detected the grid. It is always possible that we have been detected without our system being aware of it."

She took a moment and then stepped around her desk to look at the six large monitors that lined three of her office walls. There were two monitors on each wall, each labeled to indicate where the live feeds that fed into the monitors originated.

It was here that Tina kept in touch with her beginnings at Portal Corps. As the Senior Director, she spent way too much time playing politics and pushing paper rather than getting down and dirty in one of the six Portal Hangers housed within the three buildings that made up the Portal Corps Campus.

Though her daily routine allowed little time for her to delve into the mechanics of the giant portals depicted on the monitors, portals she herself had been instrumental in refining and developing, she always felt better when she took the time to check in on her 'babies'.

"Anything new?" She asked her aide.

"Nothing." Adrienne stepped up beside her. "According to the Lead Techs, all six of them are being recalibrated…again."

"Tell them to stop." Tina decided. "They've been trying to recalibrate for three months…and getting nowhere." She gazed at the monitors and sighed. "Something has happened. I don't know what, but it is obvious that the worlds those portals connected to are no longer there. Stop trying to recalibrate and tell them to start new scans." She considered for a moment and then returned to her desk.

"While we are doing that, let's also see if we can determine if someone has been able to circumvent our security and is actively blocking us."

"Yes, ma'am." Adrienne nodded and exited the office.

Once in the hallway, with the office door closed behind her, she closed her eyes and leaned up against the wall by the door.

Tina McIntyre was closer to the truth than she realized.

 _To be Continued….._


End file.
